Syria regime bombs civilians in Homs, death toll mounts

Syrian warplanes belonging to the regime of President Bashar Al-Assad carried out airstrikes in a besieged opposition-held district of Homs today that killed at least two people, adding to a death toll of more than 20 in nearly two weeks of constant air raids, an activist and monitors said.

Al-Waer, the last opposition-held neighbourhood in the western city of Homs, had for months been spared much of the intense violence raging elsewhere in the country, as the government tried to conclude an agreement with the armed opposition groups there.

Bombardment of the district resumed earlier this month, rescue workers and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) UK-based monitoring group reported.

The British-based Observatory said three people were killed earlier today alone, bringing the death toll since then to at least 30 people. Meanwhile, an opposition media activist in Al-Waer said two had been killed and the overall toll this month was more than 20.

Pro-Assad regime media outlets have said strikes were in response to opposition groups allegedly firing at residential areas of government-held Homs neighbourhoods. The allegations have been denied by the opposition.

Damascus has tried to conclude a deal in Al-Waer that would see opposition fighters and their families be allowed to leave the district and the government to take over their positions. Under similar local agreements in other parts of western Syria, opposition fighters have left only with their light weapons and headed mostly for Idlib province.

The opposition says such agreements are part of a government strategy to forcibly displace populations from opposition-held areas after years of siege and bombardment.

In September some 120 Syrian fighters opposed to the continued dictatorship of the Assad regime, took their families and left Al-Waer in an agreement with the government. However, there have been no further reports of insurgents leaving. The Observatory estimates several thousand opposition fighters remain there.