Updated on
Summary The regime of President Bashar al-Assad has killed 2,200 people since March.
Syrian forces killed at least seven people in a massive tank-backed raid on the flashpoint city of Homs on Wednesday, activists said, after the regime put off a visit by the Arab League chief.The US ambassador to Syria, Robert Ford, went on Facebook meanwhile to denounce the regime of President Bashar al-Assad over the brutal protest crackdown, which the United Nations says has killed 2,200 people since March.Wednesday mornings deadly security operation in Homs came after 2,000 people took to the streets of the central city for anti-regime protests the night before, the human rights activists said in Nicosia.Security forces opened fire during a security operation launched in the city of Homs, killing seven people and wounding 20 others, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.The Britain-based group said military reinforcements including 20 truckloads of soldiers entered the city, and that there was intense gunfire in the market and governorate headquarters.Many ambulances were roaming the streets of the city, it added.The Local Coordination Committees which organises the protests said one person was shot and killed as forces backed by tanks swept early morning into Homs, where communications and Internet services were cut in many neighbourhoods.Activists said heavy machine-gun fire was heard in the Bab Dreib and Bostan Diwan neighbourhoods of Homs after 2,000 protesters had set out for the area following the deaths of four people near the city on Tuesday.They reported demonstrations also took place in several other parts of the strife-torn country, including the central city of Hama, but that a massive clampdown prevented rallies in the port of Latakia.The security operations came hours after Syria requested the postponement of a planned visit by Arab League chief Nabil al-Arabi in which he had been due to present a reform initiative of which Damascus had been strongly critical.Syria has asked Arab League secretary general Nabil al-Arabi to delay his visit to Damascus due to circumstances beyond our control, SANA state news agency said late Tuesday.He has been informed of those circumstances and a new date will be set for his visit, the news agency added.Arabi had been commissioned by the 22-member bloc to travel to Damascus on Wednesday with a 13-point document outlining proposals to end the crackdown on dissent and push Syria to launch reforms.
