Opposition activists say tanks are pushing deeper into residential areas before feared final ground assault
Luke Harding, Mona Mahmood, Matthew Weaver and James Meikle
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 8 February 2012
"Scores of people have been killed in the fifth straight day of shelling in the beseiged Syrian city of Homs, according to opponents of Bashar al-Assad's regime.
The continuing bombardments of the districts of Bayadah, Baba Amr, al-Khaldiyeh and Karm el-Zeytoun caused many deaths, according to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Omar Shaker, an activist in Baba Amr, said the district was under "very intense shelling" by tanks, mortars, artilleries and heavy machine guns. He said he had counted five bodies.
Other reports suggest 47 civilians died early on Wednesday in the government's continuing attempts to subdue opposition areas. At least 150 people have died in the last two days, activists and oppostion sources have told Reuters.
One activist, Muhammad Hassan, said by satellite phone: "Electricity returned briefly and we were able to contact various neighbourhoods because activists there managed to recharge their phones. We counted 47 killed since midnight." Hassan said the bombardment had intensified in Sunni Muslim neighbourhoods that have risen up against Assad......
Activists said opposition fighters from the Free Syrian Army (FSA) were no match for their well-armed government adversaries, equipped with tanks, fighter planes and Russian heavy weapons. "The soldiers who defected from the army only have Kalashnikovs. How can you face a battalion with a Kalashnikov?" Sufian asked. Amid the horror, activists expressed optimism. They said that despite the continuing massacre, in which Homs has become Syria's bloody counterpart to Misrata in Libya, they still expected Assad's regime to crumble. Rabea said that after this weekend's failure to find a diplomatic settlement, the only way the world could stop the slaughter in Syria was to arm the FSA.
"The international community needs to give the FSA money," Rabea said. "And weapons. We need the Red Cross here, we need a no-fly zone, and we need safe havens so that people can flee.
"We blame Russia and China mainly for all the killing happening in the city now. Our crime is that we wanted freedom.""
Luke Harding, Mona Mahmood, Matthew Weaver and James Meikle
guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 8 February 2012
"Scores of people have been killed in the fifth straight day of shelling in the beseiged Syrian city of Homs, according to opponents of Bashar al-Assad's regime.
The continuing bombardments of the districts of Bayadah, Baba Amr, al-Khaldiyeh and Karm el-Zeytoun caused many deaths, according to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Omar Shaker, an activist in Baba Amr, said the district was under "very intense shelling" by tanks, mortars, artilleries and heavy machine guns. He said he had counted five bodies.
Other reports suggest 47 civilians died early on Wednesday in the government's continuing attempts to subdue opposition areas. At least 150 people have died in the last two days, activists and oppostion sources have told Reuters.
One activist, Muhammad Hassan, said by satellite phone: "Electricity returned briefly and we were able to contact various neighbourhoods because activists there managed to recharge their phones. We counted 47 killed since midnight." Hassan said the bombardment had intensified in Sunni Muslim neighbourhoods that have risen up against Assad......
Activists said opposition fighters from the Free Syrian Army (FSA) were no match for their well-armed government adversaries, equipped with tanks, fighter planes and Russian heavy weapons. "The soldiers who defected from the army only have Kalashnikovs. How can you face a battalion with a Kalashnikov?" Sufian asked. Amid the horror, activists expressed optimism. They said that despite the continuing massacre, in which Homs has become Syria's bloody counterpart to Misrata in Libya, they still expected Assad's regime to crumble. Rabea said that after this weekend's failure to find a diplomatic settlement, the only way the world could stop the slaughter in Syria was to arm the FSA.
"The international community needs to give the FSA money," Rabea said. "And weapons. We need the Red Cross here, we need a no-fly zone, and we need safe havens so that people can flee.
"We blame Russia and China mainly for all the killing happening in the city now. Our crime is that we wanted freedom.""
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