. >>> when cnn's arwa damon, neil holsworth, and tim crockett ventured into the streets of homs -- >>t's nonstop, the gunfire. >> they were met by the sounds of war and scenes of desolation. >> it's not deserted. there's thousands of people there. >> there are, and a lot of them are staying indoors. the mosques were putting out messages, actually, when the bombardment started, telling people to not live on the upper floors of their buildings, to try to stay away from windows, try to find protected rooms inside their homes. a lot of families had also moved into bunkers. these aren't real bunkers. they're actually just the basements that are only located in a few of the buildings and homes around here, so all of the families that haven't been able to escape stay in them. so this is mohammed, who has been telling us that there were around 250 people that were staying in this one room. half of them have actually fled in the last 24 hours because they heard that this particular location was going to get targeted, and those that have stayed are literally the ones that have absolutely nowher

along with arwa damon, neil holsworth, a veteran journalist. and handling security, kim crockette, former british special forces and an expert in balancing safety with front line news coverage. >> for me, that was a very experienced, highly accomplished team. these are your determined and strong-willed individuals. but they're also smart individuals. >> we got the call, we just had to refresh the objectives, what are we trying to achieve? what are we are going to go for. >> i had a backpack, basically. >> you mapped it out in every sense, do we have the right communications systems, how are we going to track this team. who are we going with? how are we getting there? if someone gets injured, what are we going to do? but i will say this. with all the preparation we do and all the things we've set up and all the backstops we have, you're going into a war zone. you are on your own. >> i went to see my mom when it seems like this trip was going to materialize and my dad was out of town, but i went to see my mom and spent some time with her and i ac