8 Civilians Dead as Syrian Forces Pound Protest Hubs
Syrian forces shelled the flashpoint city of Homs on Wednesday and raided other parts of the country, killing eight civilians as they pressed their assaults on protest hubs, monitors said.
The attacks occurred a day after a U.N.-Arab League peace plan was scheduled to enter into effect, but envoy Kofi Annan said Wednesday there was still a chance to salvage his bid to end hostilities within another 24 hours.
Forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad shelled and fired powerful guns at the old quarter of Khaldiyeh, as well as Juret al-Shayah and Qarabeed, in the central city of Homs, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Three people were killed in the attacks, the Britain-based monitoring group said.
Activist Khaled al-Talawi, speaking to Agence France Presse from the Homs neighborhood of Bab Sbaa, said shelling "resumed on Wednesday morning with artillery and mortars."
Also in the province of Homs, three civilians, including a child and a woman, were killed in the town of Qusayr, near the border with Lebanon, the Observatory said.
Two civilians were also shot dead as security forces launched raids in search for wanted militants in the town of Qurayyah, in the eastern province of Deir Ezzor, the Observatory said.
Regime forces also launched raids in the southern province of Daraa, the cradle of the popular uprising against the Assad regime that began more than a year ago.
Troops deployed in Maaraba after arriving in dozens of buses and personnel carriers, while gunfire was heard across the village, the Observatory said, adding security forces also raided the village of Ankhal.
The activist group, the Local Coordination Committees, said helicopters hovered over several suburbs of Damascus.
The Observatory said that military checkpoints were reinforced in Harasta, on the capital's outskirts.
It also said that five people were arrested during raids in the central province of Hama.
Speaking from Hama activist Abu Ghazi told AFP that security forces stormed the city of Halfaya where it "arrested people at random."
The army also shelled the area of Jabal al-Akrad, in the coastal province of Latakia, the Observatory said.
In the northern province of Aleppo, regime forces continued shelling the town of Marea and neighboring villages, for the second consecutive day, according to activist Mohammed al-Halabi.
"Regime forces hit one town after the other. It started with Andan and Haraytan, then moved to Mang and Aazaz, and then to Tal Rifaat, and now Marea," he said.
At least 99 people, including 66 civilians, were killed across Syria on Tuesday, the Observatory and the LCC said.
Syria's government had said Tuesday it was abiding by the plan to withdraw its forces, but Annan accused it of pulling troops from some areas and moving them elsewhere.
Source: Agence France Presse
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