to get clean drinking water, malek was forced to venture to a nearby spring. we all watched news coming in from arabic satellite channels on the protests and erupting violence. on the third morning, abu jaffar tried to find out the latest news on the militia and army. this is the first internet login of the day. he's just checking in with all the other coordinators and activists around syria to find out what the news is. activists from outside the town had posted footage of the armed forces entering madaya. >> navai: so now, you can see white pickup trucks filled with, it looks like, armed men, and he says that that's syria's militia. these militia gangs, locally called shabiha, are assad loyalists. the opposition accuses them of terrorizing their neighborhoods. three hours later, abu jaffar received a call from a lookout. >> navai: they confirmed the shabiha were conducting violent house-to-house searches. the lookout warned they were kicking down doors on our street. >> navai: malik, mohammed and abu jaffar all hid in the attic. they told me not to hide, but