Regime forces launched a new blitz on the Syrian city of Homs on Thursday, killing dozens of people, activists said, as the UN weighed a joint mission with the Arab League to end the violence. Shelling erupted at daybreak, killing at least 24 people in the besieged central city and burning bodies beyond recognition, Rami Abdel Rahman of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights told AFP. Rebels carried out an ambush later that killed at least seven security forces and wounded dozens in Daraa, southern cradle of the nearly 11-month revolt against President Bashar al-Assad, said the head of the Britain-based group.
At least 400 people have died in Homs in a relentless onslaught by government troops that began very early on Saturday, activists say. “The shells are raining down on us and regime forces are using heavy artillery,” said Ali Hazuri, a doctor in the Baba Amr district reached by telephone from Beirut. Omar Shaker, an activist in Baba Amr also reached by phone, added residents of the district were hiding on ground floors as there were no underground shelters. “When you venture outside, you can see craters every 10 metres (yards),” he said. In eastern Deir Ezzor province, machinegun fire wounded dozens of people including women and children in Koriyeh, the Observatory said, adding that army reinforcements were being sent into the town.
UN chief Ban Ki-moon said Wednesday the “appalling brutality” of the assault on Homs “is a grim harbinger of worse to come.” He launched the idea of sending a joint observer mission with the Arab League as he bemoaned the UN Security Council’s failure to agree a resolution on the crisis. The pan-Arab bloc’s secretary general, Nabil al-Arabi, said he had spoken with Ban on the proposed mission, which would include a UN envoy. The 22-member League suspended its month-long monitoring mission to Syria on January 28 because of the mounting violence. The UN chief said consultations would be held with the Arab League and Security Council members in coming days “before fleshing out the details.” Ban hit out at Russia and China for their steadfast refusal to back UN resolutions condemning the violence in Syria, saying this had encouraged Assad’s regime to continue with the repression. Moscow, a staunch ally of the regime in Damascus, has insisted any solution to end nearly one year of bloodshed must come from within Syria.
