At hajj, Syrian pilgrims talk of exile and war

MECCA, Saudi Arabia: At first glance it’s a camp like thousands of others for hajj pilgrims. But this one outside Mecca houses Syrians, among them refugees and rebel fighters, who speak of the horrors of the conflict at home.

Fatima, 38, managed to leave Syria after government troops assaulted her home neighborhood of Baba Amr in the central city of Homs, one of the cradles of the revolt against President Bashar al-Assad.