Breaking News, World News and Taiwan News.

Updated Tuesday, February 7, 2012 12:25 am TWN, AFP



	Policemen push back a man as anti-Syrian regime protesters call for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to step down outside the Syrian Embassy in Prague, Sunday. (AP) More Photos (2)

Sponsors
▪	Get the best deals for Guangzhou Hotels or choose from more than 10,000 hotels in 499 Chinese cities.
▪	Find great real time deals on China Flights. Book flights to China or China domestic flights 24/7.
▪	Buy china wholesale products from reliable chinese wholesalers on DHgate.com!
▪	Save 75% for all hotels in Shanghai, Beijing and whole China. Lowest rates for Flights in China.

Syrian forces bombard protest hubs, prepare for 'major offensive': activists

DAMASCUS--Syrian forces Monday pounded powder keg Homs with rockets and mortars and shelled another protest hub, activists said, as outrage grew over a Russia-China veto of a U.N. resolution to stop the violence.

The opposition Syrian National Council (SNC) said the regime had encircled the central city of Homs with tanks ahead of “a major offensive,” and urged the international community to act quickly to prevent a new massacre.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that at least 17 people were killed in Homs, but added that the death toll was likely to rise as many of the dozens wounded had sustained critical injuries.

It said Syrian forces on Monday also launched an assault on the town of Zabadani, near the capital Damascus, killing at least one person.

“Troops backed by hundreds of armored vehicles have launched an assault on the town of Zabadani ... which is undergoing heavy tank shelling,” the Britain-based group said.

Syria's authorities blamed Monday's unrest in Homs on “terrorist gangs” which it said were targeting several neighborhoods with mortars.

The official SANA news agency also reported that a “terrorist group” blew up an oil pipeline on Monday in Homs.

A resident of the battered city told AFP that Monday's assault began shortly after 6:00 am (0400 GMT), with government troops firing off relentless barrages of rockets, mortar rounds and artillery shells.

“What is happening is horrible, it's beyond belief,” said Omar Shaker, an activist reached by telephone. The sound of gunfire and loud explosions could be heard in the background as he spoke.

“There is a large number of martyrs,” he said.

Shaker said activists were transporting the wounded to the city's mosques.

“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.”

The new raids, which were concentrated in the neighborhoods of Khaldiyeh, Baba Amro, Inshaat and Bab Sbaa, followed what activists said was a “massacre” in the city overnight Friday and a weekend of further shelling.

A video posted by activists on YouTube apparently showed a field hospital hit by the shelling in Baba Amro, one of the main targets of Monday's assault.

Wounded patients could be seen lying on stretchers on the floor amid pools of blood and shattered glass. The video's authenticity could not immediately be verified.

Arabic satellite channels broadcast footage from Homs that showed plumes of smoke billowing skywards as calls to prayer went out from mosques across the battered city.

The violence comes as Western powers vow to seek new ways to punish Damascus amid growing outrage over the veto by Russia and China of a U.N. resolution condemning Syria for its deadly crackdown on nearly 11 months of protest.

Subscribe to The China Post and save 25%. Click here