Hundreds flee as shelling of rebels goes on

SYRIA’S military pursued a crackdown on rebels on several fronts yesterday, days after eliminating an opposition bastion in the central city of Homs following a 26-day siege, activists said.

Troops kept the Red Cross out of the wrecked Homs district of Baba Amro for a fourth day.

Braving army patrols and winter weather, hundreds of Syrians crossed into Lebanon in the past 24 hours to escape the heaviest shelling of border towns since the uprising against president Bashar al-Assad began last March.

Residents of Arsal in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley, said 100 to 150 families arrived from Syria on Sunday – one of the biggest refugee influxes so far. Kofi Annan, the UN-Arab League special envoy to Syria, will travel to Damascus on Saturday for what would be his first visit since he was named to the post last month.

The Syrian state news agency Sana said the government welcomed his visit.