Syrian troops blast Homs, residents plead for help

SYRIA: Syrian forces on Wednesday hammered rebel belts in the central city of Homs, where besieged residents desperately pleaded for humanitarian assistance, and in the northern city of Aleppo, a watchdog said.

Shells rained down from early morning on parts of Homs and on the nearby town of Qusayr, near the Lebanon border, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

The army has intensified operations against Homs and Qusayr, which have been besieged by regime forces for months, vowing to overrun them by the end of the week to free up troops for battle zones in the north, such as Aleppo.

The onslaught has sent a new flood of refugees across the border into Lebanon, a Lebanese security official said, who noted on Tuesday that up to 400 people had crossed the frontier in a24-hour period.

An activist in the Homs Old City, reached via Skype on Wednesday, said the district was "totally surrounded." "There is no way out.

AFP