Thanks for downloading the witness history podcast from the BBC World Service with me, Laura Jones.

Ten years ago, Syrian government soldiers surround Adorea, bombing buildings and searching

door-to-door for anyone who opposed President Assad, killing hundreds of people.

I've been speaking to Muhammad Zada who was there.

This episode contains descriptions of violence.

It's August 2012.

The days of demonstrations in the town of Adorea against the Syrian regime are over, a siege

is underway, which will lead to what activists describe as a massacre.

This time, the army wanted to deliver a killer blow, shelling the town for days before entering,

and said activists leaving several hundred bodies behind, many shot at close range.

Before the Syrian civil war began,

Muhammad Zada says his hometown of Adorea was a peaceful place.

A lot of friends, it has a big community of all people know and treat each other very kindly.

Kristen and Muslims living together peacefully, never had any problems.

Famous of roses and grapes.

In 2011, the wave of popular unrest that had swept the Arab world came to Syria.

Adorea, a southwest suburb of the capital city Damascus, was one of the first places to

see uprisings against the decade-long reign of President Bashar al-Assad.

Everything getting worse, they want more democracy, freedom, and we wish justice.

We don't want to be ruled by a dictator.

Muhammad, then aged 21, had been studying computer science over the border in Lebanon.

He returned to his hometown to help organize opposition protests against Assad.

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