Sunday, April 15, 2012

Syrian forces pound Homs as first UN monitors set to arrive


Assad regime and opposition trade allegations of ceasefire violations as six UN 'blue helmets' head for Syria

Peter Beaumont and agencies
guardian.co.uk, Sunday 15 April 2012

"Syrian forces have pounded central districts of Homs while rebels fighting to oust President Bashar al-Assad have attacked a police station in the northern province of Aleppo, opposition activists and a rights group have said.

The reports on Sunday morning came after the UN security council authorised the deployment of the first batch of 30 unarmed monitors to Syria in a unanimous vote on Saturday.....

In Homs, Walid al-Fares, an activist living in Khalidiya, one of the neighbourhoods where mortars bombs have landed, said: "Early this morning we saw a helicopter and a spotter plane fly overhead. Ten minutes later, there was heavy shelling."

Another resident said that government loyalists were using heavy machine guns to shoot into the area......

On Saturday in Aleppo, Syria's largest city, regime forces opened fire on mourners at a funeral, while rebel gunmen ambushed a car carrying soldiers in the southern province of Deraa.

The two sides have traded allegations of truce violations since it took effect formally last Thursday. However, Saturday's reports of the use of heavier weapons suggested the ceasefire was in jeopardy.

A video, shot in a destroyed part of what the cameraman says is the Homs area of al-Qarabis, showed two tanks rushing through the streets to the sound of heavy gunfire and explosions. "Look with your own eyes. Look, world. Watch what they are doing," the man making the video screams as a tank raises its turret......"

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