Syrian refugees in Lebanon tell of horrors at home Reporting from Arsal, Lebanon - During a pause in the shelling, Um Mahmood and her 9-year-old son ducked out of their house together in Baba Amr, the most contested neighborhood in the Syrian city of Homs. Their entire family of nine had been waiting for a chance to flee the government onslaught, and rebels had just sent word that they should use the lull to get out. But as Um Mahmood and her son hurried along a dirt road, several shells landed nearby, knocking them to the ground. Other family members scattered. The boy got up and ran, but Um Mahmood couldn't. For 15 minutes as the shells fell, she lay frozen to the spot, afraid that moving would make her a target. Finally, a rebel came to drag her to safety. More than 2,000 Syrians have fled into Lebanon in the last week alone, according to the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees. The exodus came as a month of government shelling, which activists said killed hundreds of people, culminated in a rebel withdrawal from Baba Amr. The pullback appears to have emboldened President Bashar Assad's forces, who now are said to be planning an assault on the Idlib area to the north. Some of the Syrians have since returned home, but Um Mahmood, rescued that Saturday two weeks ago, and her relatives are among about 80 families that found refuge in this hilly Lebanese village. About 130 injured Syrians have arrived as well, and were sent to the nearest hospital, a village leader said. Four injured men died along the way. Families taking refuge here tell of tense army searches, killings in the street and dramatic escapes. Two days before her family fled, Um Mahmood said, her brother-in-law was killed by a sniper. Like other families, they buried him at night in the backyard because it was too dangerous to go out. There also are multiple accounts of summary executions and rape by government forces, most of them secondhand and unconfirmed. Cut off and uncertain about what is happening back home now, many of the refugees fear the worst. Both sides in this conflict, which is largely being fought out of sight of foreign journalists, are believed to have committed abuses. Claims and counterclaims cannot be independently verified. The government says more than 2,000 members of its security forces have been killed. Human rights groups say they also have heard stories of rape by members of the army but have not been able to confirm them. Rights groups, like journalists, have had very limited access to Syria. As she told her story, Um Mahmood, 40, rubbed her eyes with exhaustion: The family left so quickly that her 7-year-old daughter didn't even have time to put on her shoes. She and other women interviewed here asked to be identified not by their full names, but by traditional nicknames derived from the names of their eldest sons. Before the long bombardment of Homs began, families said, the army regularly entered neighborhoods to raid homes. Um Ayman, from Qusair, a town in Homs province, said that when about 20 soldiers stormed her house two months ago they threw all of the family's food - rice, bulgur wheat, salt and oil - on the ground and smashed the television and computer, cursing them all the while. Several refugees said the soldiers appeared to take special pleasure in going through women's intimate clothing. Sometimes they demanded lunch, and many refugees told of theft. "They put the gun to my head and asked me, 'Where does your father hide the Kalashnikov?' " said Yamen, Um Ayman's 9-year-old nephew. I told them I don't know and I ran away. Another woman from the village, Um Amaar, said her children were threatened and asked where the family hid its guns. The soldiers made children open all cabinets and drawers, she said.