BEIRUT - An opposition group says seven people have been killed in heavy shelling of a district in central Syria a day after the army sent reinforcements ahead of a possible ground assault.
It was not immediately clear whether the intense shelling of the Baba Amr neighborhood in the city of Homs was the start of a widely expected offensive to crush rebels in the area.
Activists said the heavy shelling of the Baba Amr, Khaldiyeh and Karm el-Zeytoun lasted more than two hours.
Complete coverage: The Arab Spring
Syrian forces mass; Red Cross seeks cease-fire
McCain: Iran "supplying arms" to Syrian regime
The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which relies on activists on the ground, said seven people including a child were killed in Baba Amr.
Phone lines have been cut with the city, making it difficult to get firsthand accounts from Homs residents.
Syrian tanks and troops massed Monday outside of Homs for a possible ground assault that one activist warned could unleash a new round of fierce and bloody urban combat even as the Red Cross tried to broker a cease-fire to allow emergency aid in.
A flood of military reinforcements has been a prelude to previous offensives by President Bashar Assad's regime, which has tried to use its overwhelming firepower to crush an opposition that has been bolstered by defecting soldiers and hardened by 11 months of street battles.
"The human loss is going to be huge if they retake Baba Amr," said Rami Abdul-Rahman, who heads the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
The central city of Homs ? and in particular the opposition district known as Baba Amr ? has become a critical ground for both sides.
The opposition has lionized it as "Syria's Misrata" after the Libyan city where rebels fought off a brutal government siege. Assad's regime wants desperately to erase the embarrassing defiance in Syria's third-largest city after weeks of shelling, including a barrage of mortars that killed up to 200 people earlier this month. At least nine people were killed in shelling Monday, activists said.
Another massive death toll would only bring further international isolation on Assad from Western and Arab leaders.
"The massacre in Syria goes on," said U.S. Sen. John McCain during a visit to Cairo, where he urged Washington and its allies to find way to help arm and equip Syrian rebels.
McCain, a senior member of the Senate Armed Service Committee, said he did not support direct U.S. weapons supplies to Syrian opposition forces, but has suggested the Arab League or others could help bolster the fighting power of the anti-Assad groups. The U.S., he said, could assist with equipment such as medical supplies or global positioning devices.
"It is time we gave them the wherewithal to fight back and stop the slaughter," he said.
Assad's fall also would be a potentially devastating blow for his close ally Iran, which counts on Syria as its most reliable Arab ally and a pathway for aid to Tehran's patron Hezbollah in Lebanon.McCain told "CBS Evening News" anchor Scott Pelley on Monday that Iranian involvement shouldn't be a reason preventing the United States from providing support to the rebels. (Click video player above to see interview)
Source: http://feeds.cbsnews.com/~r/CBSNewsMain/~3/4xx2sBizt0I/
healthy back bag health e-cigarette healthy sexy hair health cigarette
No comments:
Post a Comment