The World Watches As Assad's Forces Begin To Slaughter the Rebel City of Homs

I could be wrong but by tomorrow, you may be seeing one of the worst massacres in human history as the Syrian city of Homs is now surrounded by a huge force of Assad troops with massive artillery capabilities.  The shelling has begun and the first neighborhoods are exploding.  The U.N. peacekeepers are gone...have run with their tails between their legs and the rebels are sitting ducks ...not to mention thousands of civilians who are caught in the middle.

From the report at The Telegraph:

A vast pro-government force was said to have surrounded Homs as the opposition warned that the withdrawal of UN observers from Syria's streets had paved the way for a massacre in the city.

The Syrian opposition called for the immediate deployment of armed international peacekeepers as residents said that rebel-held districts of Homs had been subjected the most sustained bombardment of the 15-month uprising against President Bashar al-Assad.

"The army is systematically gutting neighbourhood by neighbourhood with artillery," said Mohammed al-Homsi, an activist from the city. "Since the observers stopped working yesterday we have seen a clear escalation."

The shelling appeared to be a prelude for a major assault on Homs, the most defiant of all Syria's cities and the scene of repeated clashes that have claimed thousands of lives.

Activists claimed that as many as 30,000 soldiers and members of the feared pro-regime militia, the Shabiha, had surrounded the city and were waiting to move in once the artillery barrage had softened resistance.

"Around 85 per cent of Homs is now under shelling or bombardment with mortar rounds and heavy machine guns," Abu Imad, one opposition campaigner, told the Reuters press agency.

Make no bones about it - Bashir Assad has more than a bug up his ass for Homs - this is the city where it all started...the rebellion against his rule was born in Homs and he will not think twice to level this city and kill every human being in it.

Wait for it. This will be the news for the next week.

Syria: fears for Homs as pro-Assad force surrounds city


The Syrian opposition called for the immediate deployment of armed international peacekeepers as residents said that rebel-held districts of Homs had been subjected the most sustained bombardment of the 15-month uprising against President Bashar al-Assad.



"The army is systematically gutting neighbourhood by neighbourhood with artillery," said Mohammed al-Homsi, an activist from the city. "Since the observers stopped working yesterday we have seen a clear escalation."

The shelling appeared to be a prelude for a major assault on Homs, the most defiant of all Syria's cities and the scene of repeated clashes that have claimed thousands of lives.

Activists claimed that as many as 30,000 soldiers and members of the feared pro-regime militia, the Shabiha, had surrounded the city and were waiting to move in once the artillery barrage had softened resistance.

"Around 85 per cent of Homs is now under shelling or bombardment with mortar rounds and heavy machine guns," Abu Imad, one opposition campaigner, told the Reuters press agency.



"Dozens of wounded are without treatment because all the hospitals have fallen under the control of Shabiha. The dead are the lucky ones."

Homs witnessed one of the bloodiest battles of the uprising earlier this year when government forces drove rebels out of its Baba Amr district shortly before the deployment in April of 300 unarmed UN observers under a ceasefire plan brokered by Kofi Annan, the international envoy to Syria.

The presence of the monitors tempered the violence at first, but a series of civilian massacres blamed on the Shabiha has led to a major escalation the fighting which they have seemed powerless to stop.

After a growing number of incidents in which the monitors have themselves come under fire, the United Nations announced it was suspending the observer mission, dealing the most severe blow yet to international efforts to prevent Syria from descending into civil war.

Maj Gen Robert Mood, the head of the mission, blamed both sides for the suspension decision.

The decision will give renewed impetus to Western efforts to advance a new initiative that calls for an immediate political transition in Syria based on Mr Assad ceding power – a proposal strongly opposed by Russia.

William Hague, the Foreign Secretary, said that the suspension of the observer mission "call[ed] into serious question the viability of the UN mission."

With 84 deaths reported across the country over the weekend, the opposition Syrian National Council criticised the suspension of the observer mission and demanded that the UN send a fully-fledged peacekeeping force in its stead.

Although most civilians have fled opposition districts of Homs, more than 1,000 families remain there, making immediate intervention imperative to save their lives, opposition groups said.