BEIRUT: More than 200 people were killed in shelling by Syrian forces in the city of Homs, activists said on Saturday, ahead of a UN Security Council vote on a draft resolution backing an Arab call for President Bashar al-Assad to give up power.
Amid the surge in violence, 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.
Death tolls cited by activists and opposition groups ranged from 217 to 260, making the Homs attack the deadliest so far in Assad’s crackdown on protests which erupted 11 months ago, inspired by uprisings that overthrew three Arab leaders.
Residents said Syrian forces began shelling the Khalidiya neighbourhood at around 8 p.m. (1800 GMT) on Friday using artillery and mortars. They said at least 36 houses were completely destroyed with families inside.
‘We were sitting inside our house when we started hearing the shelling. We felt shells were falling on our heads,’ said Waleed, a resident of Khalidiya.
It is not possible to verify activist or state media reports as Syria restricts independent media access.
As news of the violence spread, crowds of Syrians stormed the Syrian embassies in Cairo and Kuwait in protest, and demonstrators rallied outside Syrian missions in Britain, Germany, Greece and the United States.
It was not immediately clear what had prompted Syrian forces to launch such an intense bombardment, just as diplomats at the Security Council were discussing the draft resolution supporting the Arab League demand for Assad to step aside.
But without its proposed amendments, Russia was likely to veto the resolution, remarks made on Saturday by Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov suggested.
Some Syrian activists said the violence was triggered by a wave of army defections in Homs, a stronghold of protests and armed insurgents who Assad has vowed to crush.
‘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, told Reuters, 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.’ (UNI)
