Homs under heavy bombardment

At least 16 people, including a child, were reported killed in "intensive shelling" of the main rebel-held area in the protest hub city of Homs on Tuesday, according to anti-government activists.

The Khaldiyeh and Karm al-Zaytoun areas of Homs were also reportedly being bombarded in the heaviest shelling of the city in some time.

"The Free Syrian Army is not letting the army enter [the Homs suburb of] Baba Amro. It responded this morning by 130 mm artillery that hit the neighborhood at random," activist Nader al-Husseini told Reuters, as a heavy artillery barrage was unleashed on the city. "Several shells are falling each minute," he added.

Activists say over the past few days regime forces have been bolstering their numbers outside Homs in a bid to storm the city after 18 straight days of siege.

Security forces also opened fire overnight to disperse demonstrators in the capital, Damascus, as protests against President Bashar al-Assad's regime spread. 

"There were hundreds of demonstrators at the main square of Hajar al-Aswad, and suddenly buses of security police and shabbiha (pro-Assad militia) turned up and started firing into the crowd," activist Abu Abdallah told news agency Reuters.

Footage posted on the video website Youtube taken prior to the gunfire breaking out purportedly shows a crowd marching in Hajar al-Aswad carrying placards and chanting in support of the besieged city of Homs.

Elsewhere, in Kfar Tkharim, near the Turkish border, activists said rebels had killed seven soldiers and captured two others in an ambush. Opposition activists claim 15 people have been killed in attacks on the Baba Amro district in the hotspot city of Homs since Monday, adding to the reported death toll of several hundred since fighting erupted there on February 3.

In the coming week, German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said the European Union would almost certainly impose tougher sanctions against Syria, which to date have had little effect without the support from Russia and China at the UN. "We will adopt further sanctions in Europe, and not just in Europe," Westerwelle told news agency Reuters at a G20 summit in Mexico. Westerwelle declined to name specific sanctions being considered, but said they hoped to have them finalized by February 27.

Western city blockade

Meanwhile, dozens of roadblocks have been set up across the western city of Hama by security forces, activists said, cutting off much needed emergency aid to the area. The International Committee of the Red Cross, the only international organization deploying aid workers to the country, said it remained in talks with Syrian authorities and opposition fighters for a ceasefire to bring life-saving aid to civilians.  

Diplomatic sources have asked for a two-hour ceasefire to allow aid deliveries to areas in which fighting is most severe, including Homs. Residents have said they are running out of food, medicines and water after weeks of assault by Assad forces.

Demonstrations and clashes with security forces over the last week have undermined President Assad's claims that an 11-month uprising was the work of saboteurs and limited to provincial areas.

Russia has said it will not attend the international "Friends of Syria" conference to be held in Tunis on Friday because it believes the meeting will only support the opposition's cause. The gathering was called "for the purpose of supporting one side against another in an internal conflict," the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement. "We cannot accept the offer to attend this meeting."

Moscow officials said the meeting would be unable to improve dialogue between Assad's government and the opposition. "The invitations to attend the Tunis meeting were issued to some parts of the opposition, but representatives of the Syrian government were not invited," the statement said. "This means that the interests of the majority of the Syrian population, which supports the authorities, will not be represented."

China has yet to commit to attending the Tunis gathering.

jw/dfm (Reuters, AP)