Syrian troops besieging Homs renewed their heavy shelling of the protest city on Tuesday as Russia's foreign minister was due to arrive in Damascus for talks with Bashar al-Assad's embattled regime.
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| An image grab taken from a video uploaded on YouTube on February 6, 2012 allegedly shows the town of Rastan being shelled by Syrian forces. (AFP Photo/) |
The barrage came ahead of the arrival in Damascus of Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Foreign Intelligence Service chief Mikhail Fradkov, whom reports said could try to persuade President Assad to quit.
In Homs, shooting thought to be from outgunned rebels echoed across Baba Amro district on Tuesday morning in response to a new wave of heavy shelling and rocket attacks on their strongholds in the flashpoint city.
Abu Rami, an activist AFP reached by telephone from Beirut, said the explosions had continued through the night.
"There are about four blasts every five minutes," he said. "Since this morning the shelling has been concentrated in the neighbourhoods of Baba Amro, Inshaat and Jubar.
"The humanitarian situation is dire. No one can move around. There are snipers everywhere," he added.
Other activists reached by telephone have said food and medicine were in short supply.
The clashes come a day after nearly 100 civilians were killed across Syria, activists said, with the majority dying in the fierce onslaught by government troops on the flashpoint city and its environs.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 69 civilians were killed on Monday in Homs and its environs after government troops launched the fiercest assault yet on the town.
The Britain-based group said another 13 died in clashes in the northwestern province of Idlib, one in Aleppo, to the north and 15 near the capital Damascus.
Rights groups say more than 6,000 people have been killed since the outbreak of the revolt mid-March.
A resident of Homs told AFP that Monday's assault was unprecedented. It had began at around dawn, with barrages of rockets, mortar rounds and artillery shells.
"What is happening is horrible, it's beyond belief," said activist Omar Shaker, reached by telephone as loud detonations were heard in the background.
"There is nowhere to take shelter, nowhere to hide," he said. "We are running short of medical supplies and we are only able to provide basic treatment to the injured."
One video posted on YouTube apparently showed a field hospital hit by shelling in Baba Amro and wounded patients lying on stretchers on the floor amid pools of blood and shattered glass.
Lavrov's trip to Syria comes amid floundering diplomatic efforts to end the bloodshed, just days after Moscow angered Western governments by vetoing UN Security Council resolution action against its Cold War ally.
However the defiant Assad regime appeared to be in no mood to make any concessions.
In a statement carried by the official SANA news agency, Syria's interior ministry vowed to push forth with its onslaught on Homs in a bid to rid the region from what it said were "armed terrorist gangs."
"Operations to hunt down terrorist groups will continue until security and order are re-established in all neighbourhoods of Homs and its environs and until we overcome all armed persons terrorising citizens and threatening their life," it added.
Western powers are seeking new ways to punish Damascus amid growing outrage over Saturday's veto by Russia and China of a UN Security Council resolution condemning Syria for its near 11-month crackdown on dissent.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called the veto a "travesty."
White House spokesman Jay Carney warned Syria's allies that backing President Bashar al-Assad was a "losing bet."
US President Barack Obama shied away from talk of military intervention and vowed to pursue diplomatic means.
"It is important to resolve this without recourse to outside military intervention and I think that's possible," he said in an NBC television interview.
Russia and China both defended their vetoes, with Moscow condemning as "hysterical" the West's angry reaction.
