Major fighting is reported in the Syrian city of Homs, with reports that some 7,000 regime troops are attempting to force their way into the contested Baba Amro district and are encountering major resistance from the Free Syrian Army (FSA) defectors.
FSA official Mohalmen al-Rumaid, who is inside neighboring Turkey, told the media that FSA fighters across the nation are being ordered to escalate their attacks “in revenge for Baba Amro” and to disrupt the supply route of the Assad forces in Homs.
Security forces for the regime claimed that most of the resistance in Homs had already been defeated and the move against Baba Amro was a “mopping up” job. While rebel fighters are saying they fear a “massacre,” so far it seems that it is simply a battle, part of the ongoing civil war.
Syrian state media is mostly leaving the fight in Homs uncovered, reporting only a single death of a nurse in an attack on a water treatment plant. The US is formally protesting the regime for fighting in Homs, but while there has been some lip-service given to a ceasefire they have yet to comment on the rebel fighters in the battle.
Self-appointed revolutionaries shooting people in the streets – Homs eyewitness
Published: 01 March, 2012, 23:08
Members of the Free Syrian Army patrol an area in Qusayr, 15 kms (nine miles) from Homs (AFP Photo / STR)
People have been left without water or electricity as rebels destroy water pumps and power converters. Civilians are forced to stay inside as snipers shoot from the rooftops.
RT in Damascus managed to contact an eyewitness in Homs, who says self-proclaimed revolutionaries are killing civilians in the streets. Galina says leaving home is out of the question, as snipers “can shoot you in the back.”
“They kill both young and old. They steal people from their homes and chop them into pieces, put them in plastic bags and throw them out!”
She claims rumors are spreading of gunmen from France, Lebanon and Tunisia killing Syrians.
“They mostly kill Christians here,” she says.
Galina says people in Homs support the Assad government and want “the revolution” to be over.
Earlier reports said rebels left Homs under pressure from Assad’s forces, but threatened to retaliate.