Arrests in Homs as Syrian security forces crack down

Syrian security forces swept through neighbourhoods in Homs yesterday, firing machine guns and pulling people from their homes in a series of arrests, activists and residents said. Up to 50 people have been reported killed in the central Syrian city since a crackdown began there at the weekend.

Smoke billowed from at least one area in Homs, after days of intense violence as President Bashar Assad's regime seeks to stamp out a five-month popular uprising against him.

Rami Abdul-Rahman, director of the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said tanks closed in on several neighbourhoods which were also subjected to heavy machine gunfire. Mosques issued calls for help via loudspeakers.