Activists: Dozens killed as Syria targets civilians

Syrian government forces killed more than 60 people on Tuesday in assaults on villages and an artillery barrage in the restive city of Homs, activists said.

Activists said at least 30 people died in the bombardment of the Baba Amro neighborhood of Homs city, and at least 33 were killed when forces trying to crush opposition to President Bashar Assad stormed villages in northern Idlib province. At least two of those killed in Homs were children, activists said.

In Damascus, security forces opened fire on demonstrators overnight, wounding at least four, activists said. Violence has hit the capital over the past week, undermining Assad's assertion that the 11-month-old uprising against his rule is limited to the provinces and the work of saboteurs.

Activist accounts of the violence could not be confirmed. The government bars most foreign journalists from Syria.

BBC News reported that opposition groups had noticed that the military was building up its strength near Homs, apparently to prepare for a ground assault that human rights activists fear could become a massacre.

"I'm trying to leave the area because of the gunfire and heavy shelling, which has rocked the city," an activist hiding near the Baba Amr area of Homs, identified only as Omar, told the BBC. "This is a large-scale military assault on defenseless civilians."

Meanwhile the International Committee of the Red Cross said it had asked authorities and rebels to agree daily cease-fires so life-saving aid can reach civilians in hard-hit areas including Homs.

"It should last at least two hours every day, so that ICRC staff and Syrian Arab Red Crescent volunteers have enough time to deliver aid and evacuate the wounded and the sick," ICRC President Jakob Kellenberger said.

Shells fall 'each minute'
Activists said government forces launched the artillery attack on Homs after rebel fighters holding the opposition Baba Amr district blocked troops from entering.

"Several shells are falling each minute," activist Nader al-Husseini told Reuters from the district, adding that two children were among the victims.

Another activist said 21 bodies had been found, many dug out from under the rubble. "Others are still buried. Today the shelling is very fierce," he said.

1. Only on msnbc.com

   1. Updated 54 minutes ago 2/21/2012 5:39:17 PM +00:00 Rev. Graham: Obama seen as 'son of Islam'
   2. Updated 62 minutes ago 2/21/2012 5:32:04 PM +00:00 Spike in poaching threatens rhinos once facing extinction
   3. FDA moves to ease shortages of 2 cancer drugs
   4. Online coupons not always honored by merchants
   5. Avalanche survivor ?in shock? after 3 die in tragedy
   6. Chinese police beat up journalists at protests
   7. Updated 29 minutes ago 2/21/2012 6:04:32 PM +00:00 One in four Americans have more debt than savings

NYT: US should help Syria rebels, McCain says

The London-based Syrian Network for Human Rights said at least 250 shells and rockets had hit Baba Amr since the morning and Syrian air force planes were flying reconnaissance missions.

Russia sold Syria nearly $1 billion in arms in 2011

Activists said government forces backed by armor and under the control of Alawite officers, from the same minority sect as Assad, have been closing in on Baba Amr, a Sunni Muslim neighborhood, since the offensive on Homs began on Feb 3.

Video: Violence rises in Syria (on this page)

Tanks are deployed in the Inshaat district next to Baba Amr, opposition sources said, and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said a convoy of more than 50 armored vehicles was seen heading from Damascus toward Homs on Tuesday.

Homs, a city of one million people on the Damascus-Aleppo highway, has been at the heart of the uprising against Assad's 11-year rule.

Official: US drones monitoring clashes in Syria

Dangerous conditions and government curbs on access make it hard for media to verify activist reports, but international rights and aid organizations confirm a bloody and desperate standoff in which several hundred people have been killed.

Assad says the revolt, until recently limited mainly to the provinces, is the work of foreign-backed terrorists.

Fears for bloggers
Also Tuesday, United Nations human rights investigators urged Syria to free a group of at least 16 activists, bloggers and journalists who were arrested in a raid on the Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression in Damascus by authorities last week.

"The Syrian authorities should end all acts of harassment against human rights defenders and release all those arbitrarily arrested and detained," the four U.N. human rights experts said in a statement from Geneva.

Report: Venezuela's Chavez ships fuel to Syria regime

Those detained included leading activist Mazen Darwish and U.S.-born blogger Razan Ghazzawi.

"I fear that Mr. Mazen Darwish and other persons arrested may be at serious risk of torture or ill treatment," the U.N.'s torture investigator Juan Mendez said. "I am deeply concerned about their physical and mental well-being."

Crowds rallied in the capital Damascus on Monday night and at least four people were wounded when security forces opened fire, activists said.

Assad sets referendum date as his forces attack rebels

"There were hundreds of demonstrators at the main square of Hajar al-Aswad and suddenly buses of security police and shabbiha (pro-Assad militia) turned up and started firing into the crowd," activist Abu Abdallah told Reuters by telephone.

Footage posted on YouTube, purportedly taken before the shooting, showed a crowd marching in Hajar al-Aswad carrying placards in support of besieged Homs and singing "Eyes are shedding tears for the martyrs among Syria's youth."

'They can't leave'
An activist in al-Qusair, about 20 miles southwest of Homs and close to the Lebanese border, said five people were killed and eight wounded when the northern part of the town came under heavy fire from army mortars and T-72 tanks.

"People in that area are hiding in their homes, they can't leave. Others are resisting. Those who are farther away are fleeing the town. Some people are so scared they're trying to leave anyway even if they are close to the fire," Abu Ansa told Reuters by telephone.

The Geneva-based International Committee of the Red Cross, the only international organization deploying aid workers in Syria, said on Monday it was in talks with the authorities and opposition fighters for a cease-fire to bring aid to civilians.

Red Cross negotiating pause to fighting in Syria

Diplomatic sources said the ICRC was seeking two-hour cease-fires in places such as Homs, where residents are running out of food, water and medicine.

Meanwhile, Western powers and the Arab League are preparing for a meeting of the "Friends of Syria" contact group in Tunisia on Friday to pressure Assad to step down, while Russia and China backed Assad's own program for reforms.

Russia said it would not attend the meeting because the Syrian government would not be represented. The Russian Foreign Ministry suggested the United Nations Security Council should send a special humanitarian envoy to Syria.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the Friends of Syria meeting would show that his government was increasingly isolated and offer support for "the brave Syrian people."

"We'll send a clear message to Russia, China and others who are still unsure about how to handle the increasing violence but are up until now unfortunately making the wrong choices," Clinton said in Mexico at a meeting of the G20 world powers.

? 2012 msnbc.com

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46465771/ns/world_news-mideast_n_africa/

heisman cp3 lakers news rachel crow rachel crow steelers browns albert pujols