Thousands of regime forces and loyalist militias have encircled the Syrian city of Homs, poised to launch what may be a final assault to crush dissent, the opposition warned on Friday. The Syrian National Council said in a statement that President Bashar al-Assad’s regime was using the pretext of what it called a “terrorist” attack on an oil pipeline to overrun the central protest hub. “The regime (is) paving the way to commit a massacre in order to extinguish the revolution in Homs,” said the SNC, the principle umbrella organisation drawing together opponents of Assad’s regime.
Syrians meanwhile, took to the streets of Homs despite an opposition warning of a “massacre” by thousands of regime forces and militias who encircled the protest hub for a final assault to crush dissent. Local rights groups reported later that forces killed at least six people, including two children, when they fired randomly on protesters in Homs, one of many areas where people rallied after the main weekly Muslim prayers. Pro-democracy activists had called on citizens to take to the streets across the troubled country in support of a “dignity strike… which will lead to the sudden death of this tyrant regime.” Homs, an important junction city of 1.6 million residents mainly divided along confessional lines, is a tinderbox of sectarian tensions that the SNC said the regime was trying to exploit.
“The regime also took a significant step… in burning oil pipelines in the neighborhood of Baba Amr to blame what the regime calls ‘armed gangs; in an attempt to crush the peaceful uprising on the pretext of a war on terrorism.”
Witnesses on the ground in the city have reported a buildup of troops and pro-regime “Shabiha” militiamen backed by armoured vehicles who have set up more than 60 checkpoints, said the SNC. “These are all signs of a security crackdown operation that may reach the level of a total invasion of the city,” it said in the statement.
“We warn of the consequences of committing such a crime that could result in a massive number of casualties.”
