Fears Assad plans major assault on rebellious Homs as troops gather

Syrian tanks and troops are massing outside the resistance stronghold of Homs for a possible ground assault, even as the Red Cross tried to broker a ceasefire to allow emergency aid into the country.

A flood of military reinforcements has been a prelude to previous offensives by president Bashar al-Assad’s regime, which has tried to use its overwhelming fire-power to crush an opposition that has been bolstered by defecting soldiers and hardened by 11 months of street battles.

Three armoured columns were reported to be heading towards Homs yesterday.

“The human loss is going to be huge if they retake Baba Amr,” said Rami Abdul-Rahman, who heads the British-based activist group Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The central city of Homs – and in particular the opposition district known as Baba Amr – has become critical for both sides. The opposition has lionised it as “Syria’s Misrata” after the Libyan city where rebels fought off a brutal government siege.

Mr Assad’s regime wants desperately to erase the defiance that remains in Syria’s third-largest city after weeks of shelling, including a barrage of mortars that killed up to 200 people earlier this month. At least nine people were killed in shelling yesterday.

In Cairo, Arab League Secretary-General Nabil Elaraby last night suggested that Russia and China – which recently supported Damascus by vetoing a UN Security Council resolution condemning Mr Assad’s regime – may be shifting their positions.

“There are some indications, especially from China and to some degree from Russia that there may be a change in their stance,” he said.

Syria-based activist Mustafa Osso said that Mr Assad’s military should face strong resistance as residents plan to fight until “the last person.”

He added that Homs is facing “savage shelling that does not differentiate between military or civilians targets”.

The Baba Amr neighbourhood on Homs’ south-western edge has become the centre of the city’s opposition. Hundreds of army defectors are thought to be taking shelter there, clashing with troops in hit-and-run attacks each day.

Amateur videos posted online yesterday showed what activists said were shells falling into Baba Amr. Black smoke billowed from residential areas. Phone lines and internet connections have been cut, making it difficult to get first-hand accounts from Homs residents.

In Geneva, a spokeswoman for the International Committee of the Red Cross said the group has been in talks with Syrian authorities and opposition groups to negotiate a ceasefire in some of the most violence-torn areas.

Carla Haddad said the talks weren’t aimed at resolving any of the entrenched political differences, adding: “The idea is to be able to facilitate swift access to people in need.”

Clashes between military rebels and Syrian forces are growing more frequent and the defectors have managed to take control of patches of territory in the north as well as parts of Homs province, which is Syria’s largest, stretching from the border with Lebanon in the west to Iraq and Jordan in the east.

Activists believe Mr Assad may be trying to subdue Homs before a planned referendum next Sunday on a new constitution. The charter would allow a bigger role for political opposition to challenge Mr Assad’s Baath Party, which has controlled Syria since a 1963 coup.

The leaders of the uprising have dismissed the referendum as an attempt at superficial reforms that do nothing to crack the regime’s hold on power.

“We have called for a boycott of the referendum which cannot be held while parts of Syria are a war zone,” said Omar Idilbi, a Beirut-based member of the opposition Syrian National Council.