Last week, as rebel forces closed in on the citadel and the defenders fought back with new-found ferocity, anger mounted after a comrade was shot clean through the head by a sniper and a grenade killed three others.

From one house, rebels hauled a bearded man in a track suit. Unarmed, he made to flee, but the men around him fired, almost in slow motion, one shot, two, three. Silent, he fell dead on the street. They later justified their action, saying documents on the body showed he was a loyalist officer.