Dozens feared dead in fresh onslaught on Homs
Around 50 people, including children, are killed in the besieged Syrian city of Homs amid a peace mission by the UN, according to activists.
The deaths emerged as former UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan, left Syria failing to clinch a deal to end the violence in the country. President Bashar al-Assad told him that “terrorists” were blocking any political situation.
Opposition activists, the Local Coordination Committees of Syria, said that at least 45 women and children had been stabbed and burned in the Homs district of Karm al-Zeitoun.
They said that another seven people were slaughtered in the city’s Jobar district.
Pictures posted online by activists showed the bodies of five children who were disfigured after apparently being hit with sharp objects during the latest wave of violence. At least six dead adults were covered with sheets.
However state news agency, Sana, said on its website: “The terrorist armed groups have kidnapped scores of civilians in the city of Homs, central Syria, killed, and mutilated their corpses and filmed them to be shown by media outlets.”
Peace Plan?
Meanwhile, Arab League officials are now hoping that a peace plan agreed on Saturday between Arab foreign ministers and Russia could lead to another UN security council resolution on Syria. US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, will meet Russian Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov, in New York on Monday, while the UN Security Cou ncil holds a special meeting on Arab revolts.
More than 7,500 people have been killed by President Assad’s forces since the start of the deadly uprising more than 11 months ago, according to the UN.
Syrian authorities say that rebels have killed 2,000 soldiers.
At least four people were killed in the town of Idlib on Sunday after troops and tanks moved in a day earlier.