Three Syrian families were murdered in their homes by President Bashar al-Assad's forces in Homs on Wednesday as columns of tanks moved towards the embattled city
Fires burned and smoke billowed over rooftops as heavy artillery pounded areas under the de facto control of rebels from the Free Syrian Army, killing about 50 people.
The families were shot dead by members of a pro-regime militia, popularly known as "al-Shabiha" - or "the ghosts" - which has been responsible for numerous atrocities since the conflict began 11 months ago.
The Ghantawi family, including a girl of 15 and two boys aged seven and five, lived near al-Firdaos square. The al-Tirkawi family, with seven members, and the al-Zamal family, with eight members, both lived in the al-Nazirheen area of Homs. All were murdered when militiamen raided their homes late on Tuesday or in the early hours of yesterday morning, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a London-based group.
Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Observatory, said the murders of the families, which claimed a total of 20 lives, had been disclosed by trusted primary sources in Homs. "This is not the first time that the Shabiha have carried out killings like this," he said. "When they come into an area, they kill people to cause fear and to say 'we can do more'."
Another report - attributed to different sources - suggested that 18 babies died in a hospital in Homs after electricity for their incubators was cut off.
Neither report could be independently verified. Al-Shabiha constitutes an irregular militia recruited largely from Mr Assad's minority Alawite sect, which accounts for 10 per cent of Syria's population. They display pictures of the president on their vehicles and are routinely deployed to terrorise the regime's opponents among the Sunni majority.
Navi Pillay, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, said she was "appalled by the Syrian government's wilful assault on Homs," adding that Mr Assad's regime was guilty of "what appear to be indiscriminate attacks on civilian areas in the city".
Homs, a city of 1 million people divided between Alawites, Sunnis and Christians, has become an FSA stronghold and the epicentre of the recent fighting.
Yesterday's bombardment began at about 6am, said an opposition activist who gave his name as Waleed, speaking on a satellite phone from outside Homs. "We can hear explosions everywhere. We can hear the explosions from 4 or 5 km away," he said.
"We have no idea about the number of victims, but I saw six dead bodies today and there are many injured." He added that three or four shells had exploded nearby in the previous few minutes.
"Everybody is expecting a big attack," said Mr Waleed. "After the bombardment, they will send in troops. They bomb first, then they send the troops."
Earlier, two men tried to take medical supplies to the district of Baba Amr, which has suffered most from the barrage and appears to have been cut off from the rest of the city. "We don't know if they got in or not," said Mr Waleed. "If you get in, you cannot get out."
The fighting was so intense, he added, that the wounded were unable to reach the city's hospitals. Many were being treated in makeshift facilities that are desperately short of medicine and supplies. "We just need the Red Crescent to come here," said Mr Waleed.
Rooftop snipers were also keeping people confined to their homes and preventing help from reaching casualties. "The snipers are going mad here. You cannot go to the next street because on many blocks they have snipers," he added. "People have been shot while carrying the injured. People have been shot while they are running for bread. People cannot move, so they are shouting to contact eachother."
Footage released by other opposition activists showed columns of T-72 tanks, carried on transporter lorries, moving towards Homs along the main road from Damascus, providing evidence that the regime was continuing its military build-up around the city, the third-biggest in Syria. Across the country, a total of 62 people were killed yesterday, according to the Human Rights Observatory.
Homs is divided between largely Sunni areas, where FSA rebels have a strong presence and the fighting is fiercest, and Alawite and Christian quarters, where regime forces have gathered.
Yesterday, Syrian state television reported that "armed terrorist gangs" had detonated a car bomb in the Bayada area of the city, killing several people. They also accused armed men of attacking the oil refinery in Homs.
Meanwhile, Vladimir Putin, the Russian prime minister, defended his country's decision to oppose any outside intervention in the conflict or any calls for Mr Assad to step down. "Of course we condemn violence from whichever side it comes, but we must not behave like a bull in a china shop. We need to allow people to decide their own fate independently," he said on Russian television.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/wor...Assads-forces-as-tanks-move-towards-Homs.html
Fires burned and smoke billowed over rooftops as heavy artillery pounded areas under the de facto control of rebels from the Free Syrian Army, killing about 50 people.
The families were shot dead by members of a pro-regime militia, popularly known as "al-Shabiha" - or "the ghosts" - which has been responsible for numerous atrocities since the conflict began 11 months ago.
The Ghantawi family, including a girl of 15 and two boys aged seven and five, lived near al-Firdaos square. The al-Tirkawi family, with seven members, and the al-Zamal family, with eight members, both lived in the al-Nazirheen area of Homs. All were murdered when militiamen raided their homes late on Tuesday or in the early hours of yesterday morning, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a London-based group.
Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Observatory, said the murders of the families, which claimed a total of 20 lives, had been disclosed by trusted primary sources in Homs. "This is not the first time that the Shabiha have carried out killings like this," he said. "When they come into an area, they kill people to cause fear and to say 'we can do more'."
Another report - attributed to different sources - suggested that 18 babies died in a hospital in Homs after electricity for their incubators was cut off.
Neither report could be independently verified. Al-Shabiha constitutes an irregular militia recruited largely from Mr Assad's minority Alawite sect, which accounts for 10 per cent of Syria's population. They display pictures of the president on their vehicles and are routinely deployed to terrorise the regime's opponents among the Sunni majority.
Navi Pillay, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, said she was "appalled by the Syrian government's wilful assault on Homs," adding that Mr Assad's regime was guilty of "what appear to be indiscriminate attacks on civilian areas in the city".
Homs, a city of 1 million people divided between Alawites, Sunnis and Christians, has become an FSA stronghold and the epicentre of the recent fighting.
Yesterday's bombardment began at about 6am, said an opposition activist who gave his name as Waleed, speaking on a satellite phone from outside Homs. "We can hear explosions everywhere. We can hear the explosions from 4 or 5 km away," he said.
"We have no idea about the number of victims, but I saw six dead bodies today and there are many injured." He added that three or four shells had exploded nearby in the previous few minutes.
"Everybody is expecting a big attack," said Mr Waleed. "After the bombardment, they will send in troops. They bomb first, then they send the troops."
Earlier, two men tried to take medical supplies to the district of Baba Amr, which has suffered most from the barrage and appears to have been cut off from the rest of the city. "We don't know if they got in or not," said Mr Waleed. "If you get in, you cannot get out."
The fighting was so intense, he added, that the wounded were unable to reach the city's hospitals. Many were being treated in makeshift facilities that are desperately short of medicine and supplies. "We just need the Red Crescent to come here," said Mr Waleed.
Rooftop snipers were also keeping people confined to their homes and preventing help from reaching casualties. "The snipers are going mad here. You cannot go to the next street because on many blocks they have snipers," he added. "People have been shot while carrying the injured. People have been shot while they are running for bread. People cannot move, so they are shouting to contact eachother."
Footage released by other opposition activists showed columns of T-72 tanks, carried on transporter lorries, moving towards Homs along the main road from Damascus, providing evidence that the regime was continuing its military build-up around the city, the third-biggest in Syria. Across the country, a total of 62 people were killed yesterday, according to the Human Rights Observatory.
Homs is divided between largely Sunni areas, where FSA rebels have a strong presence and the fighting is fiercest, and Alawite and Christian quarters, where regime forces have gathered.
Yesterday, Syrian state television reported that "armed terrorist gangs" had detonated a car bomb in the Bayada area of the city, killing several people. They also accused armed men of attacking the oil refinery in Homs.
Meanwhile, Vladimir Putin, the Russian prime minister, defended his country's decision to oppose any outside intervention in the conflict or any calls for Mr Assad to step down. "Of course we condemn violence from whichever side it comes, but we must not behave like a bull in a china shop. We need to allow people to decide their own fate independently," he said on Russian television.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/wor...Assads-forces-as-tanks-move-towards-Homs.html
, money,........medical care ...anything that a human need....please brothers and sisters it is time to move for the sake of Allah subhanahu wa taaala.