Syrian forces ‘kill hundreds in Homs’
Activists say more than 200 people are dead after shelling by Syrian forces in Homs. One eye-witness in the city tells Channel 4 News the “massacre” started after a group of al-Assad troops defected.
The number of deaths cited by activists and opposition groups ranges from 217 to 260, making the Homs attack the deadliest so far in President Bashar al-Assad’s crackdown on protests.
Residents said Syrian forces began shelling the Khalidiya area at around 18.00 GMT on Friday using artillery and mortars.
‘Danny’, an activist inside Homs told Channel 4 News the ‘massacre’ started when a group of al-Assad troops defected to the rebels.
He added that people were being shot at as they tried to move the bodies of the dead.
Waleed, who was in Khalidiya last night, said that “many bombs came down on the neighbourhood” and that the situation was “very, very miserable”
It is not possible to verify activist or state media reports as Syria restricts independent media access.
The violence comes ahead of a UN Security Council vote on a draft resolution backing an Arab call for Assad to give up power.
The United States called for international solidarity against Assad, but Russia’s foreign minister warned of a “scandal” if the draft came to a vote, suggesting Moscow would use its Security Council veto.
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Protests worldwide
There have been scuffles between protesters and police outside the Syrian embassy in London with at least five people arrested.
Crowds of Syrians also stormed embassies in Cairo and Kuwait in protest, and demonstrators rallied outside Syrian missions in Germany, Greece and the United States.
“The death toll is now at least 217 people killed in Homs, 138 of them killed in the Khalidiya district,” Rami Abdulrahman, head of the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, citing witnesses.
“Syrian forces are shelling the district with mortars from several locations, some buildings are on fire. There are also buildings which got destroyed.”
A Syrian activist said Assad forces bombarded Khalidiya, a key anti-Assad district, to scare other rebel neighbourhoods. “It does not seem that they get it. Even if they kill 10 million of us, the people will not stop until we topple him.”
Read more: UN moves on Syria as tanks pound Homs
The opposition Syrian National Council said 260 civilians were killed, describing it as “one of the most horrific massacres since the beginning of the uprising in Syria”.
Syria’s state SANA news agency denied Homs was shelled, accusing rebels of killing people and presenting them as casualties for propaganda purposes before the UN vote.
“The corpses displayed by some channels of incitement are martyrs, citizens kidnapped, killed and photographed by armed terrorist groups as if they are victims of the supposed shelling,” it quoted a “media source” as saying.
The opposition council said that it believed Assad’s forces were preparing for similar attacks around Damascus and in the northern town of Jisr al-Shughour.