{"id":1815,"date":"2012-02-07T15:26:38","date_gmt":"2012-02-07T15:26:38","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2012-02-07T15:26:38","modified_gmt":"2012-02-07T15:26:38","slug":"syrian-forces-pound-homs-with-licence-to-kill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ado-world.com\/en\/syrian-forces-pound-homs-with-licence-to-kill\/","title":{"rendered":"Syrian Forces Pound Homs with \u2018Licence to Kill\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
At least 12 killed in fresh bombardment of Homs after Russia, China veto UN Security Council resolution condemning Syria.<\/p>\n

ADO-World.org<\/strong>
\n06-February-2012<\/p>\n

BEIRUT – Syrian forces launched a fresh bombardment of powderkeg city Homs at dawn on Monday, killing at least 12 people and wounding many more, activists and correspondents said.<\/p>\n

The new assault, which followed what activists said was a "massacre" in the central city overnight Friday and a weekend of further shelling, came after the opposition had warned a veto by Russia and China of a UN Security Council resolution condemning Syria had handed the regime a "licence to kill."<\/p>\n

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights gave an initial toll of at least 12 people killed and dozens wounded early Monday.<\/p>\n

Arabic satellite channels broadcast images from Homs which showed plumes of smoke billowing into the sky, as calls to prayer went out from mosques across the battered central city.<\/p>\n

A resident of Homs interviewed by AFP said the shelling began shortly after 6:00 am (0400 GMT) with government troops using rockets and artillery fire.<\/p>\n

"What is happening is horrible, it’s beyond belief," said Omar Shaker, reached by telephone. The sound of gunfire and loud explosions could be heard as he spoke.<\/p>\n

Mohammad al-Homsi, a member of the opposition Command Council of the Syrian Revolution, told Al-Jazeera satellite chanel that the Baba Amro sector of Homs had been the main target of Monday’s assault.<\/p>\n

"Since dawn Baba Amro has been under heavy bombardment. A field hospital was hit and there are many martyrs," he said, adding that shells also landed in other neighbourhoods, including Al-Khalidiya, the main focus of Friday night’s onslaught.<\/p>\n

Opposition groups and activists reported a "massacre" overnight Friday and early Saturday in Homs, saying more than 200 civilians were killed during a heavy bombardment by regime forces who they said fired tank shells, nail bombs and mortars.<\/p>\n

On Sunday, activists reported more shelling in the city, with at least 23 civilians killed.<\/p>\n

The weekend death toll was one of the bloodiest since the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad’s regime erupted almost 11 months ago.<\/p>\n

Opposition groups say at least 6,000 people have now been killed.<\/p>\n

The latest violence comes as Western powers vow to seek new ways to punish Damascus amid growing outrage after the double veto by Russia and China of a UN resolution condemning Syria for its deadly crackdown on protests.<\/p>\n

The vetoes on Saturday had handed President Bashar al-Assad’s regime a "licence to kill" according to the opposition Syrian National Council.<\/p>\n

"The SNC holds both governments accountable for the escalation of killings and genocide, and considers this irresponsible step a licence for the Syrian regime to kill without being held accountable," it said of Russia and China.<\/p>\n

The second UN double veto in four months also fuelled angry reaction from Washington, with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton calling it a "travesty" and vowing to push for new sanctions on Syria.<\/p>\n

Russia defended its veto saying Western powers refused to reach a consensus.<\/p>\n

Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Foreign Intelligence Service chief Mikhail Fradkov prepared to visit Damascus on Tuesday, as news reports said the mission could try to push Assad to quit.<\/p>\n

"Russia strongly intends to achieve a rapid stabilisation of the situation in Syria through the rapid implementation of much-needed democratic reforms," the Russian foreign ministry said.<\/p>\n

In other violence, army deserters destroyed a military control post in the northeast village of Al Bara, killing three officers and capturing 19 soldiers, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Monday.<\/span><\/p>\n

Source: Middle East Online<\/em><\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At least 12 killed in fresh bombardment of Homs after Russia, China veto UN Security Council resolution condemning Syria. ADO-World.org 06-February-2012 BEIRUT – Syrian forces launched a fresh bombardment of powderkeg city Homs at dawn on Monday, killing at least 12 people and wounding many more, activists and correspondents said. The new assault, which followed …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2274,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1815","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-syria"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/ado-world.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2012\/02\/1815_Homs.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ado-world.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1815","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ado-world.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ado-world.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ado-world.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ado-world.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1815"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ado-world.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1815\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ado-world.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2274"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ado-world.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1815"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ado-world.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1815"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ado-world.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1815"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}