Syrian forces mass outside rebel stronghold

[ellisonz]

By BRIAN MURPHY and ZEINA KARAM | Associated Press – 3 hrs ago

BEIRUT (AP) — Syrian tanks and troops massed Monday outside the resistance stronghold of Homs for a possible ground assault that one activist warned could unleash a new round of fierce and bloody urban combat even as the Red Cross tried to broker a cease-fire to allow emergency aid in.

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

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

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The opposition has lionized it as "Syria's Misrata" after the Libyan city where rebels fought off a brutal government siege. Assad's regime wants desperately to erase the embarrassing defiance 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 Monday, activists said.

More: http://news.yahoo.com/syrian-forces-mass-outside-rebel-stronghold-190319288.html

[David__77]

1. It's not really like Misrata.

Gaddafi's forces never controlled much of Misrate after February. They would get a street here or there which was desolated, and they'd even bring in outsiders to have a pro-Gaddafi rally, but the city was in opposition hands. Homs isn't really like that. The central districts are under government control, and certainly so are all the Alawite neighborhoods. It's a bit of a patchwork, but there is a semblance of "normalcy" in the central areas. Bab Amr is a pretty small neighborhood actually.

I wouldn't be surprised if there were an offensive soon to reclaim that area. I hope that the Syrian forces are as humanitarian about it as the Libyan rebels were when they took Sirte.

[tabatha]

2. Sorry, the Syrian forces have been shown to be less humanitarian than anything in Libya.

The Libyan rebels tried again and again to negotiate a peaceful outcome in both Bani Walid and Sirte. There were extensive delays because of these negotiations.

[tabatha]

3. Like this?

@KareemLailah
IMPORTANT: #Assad army arrested Basem Alomar & six members of Al-Asaad family in cave then blew it on them in Abdita,

@KareemLailah
MT @ZainSyr: my friend in Abdita in Idlib wrote me: Assad army arrested my uncle, bro and cousins, put them in a cave then bomb it! #syria

The Sirte operation happened because the people protecting Gaddafi in Sirte would not lay down their arms peacefully despite numerous attempts to get them do so, and fought against the rebels with arms.

These Syrian people were ARRESTED - thus they had no arms, and were put in a cave, and blown up.

You are comparing apples and oranges to try and minimize Assad's genocide.

[Comrade Grumpy]

4. Well, if somebody tweeted something, it must be true.

Seriously, how do we evaluate information like this? Anybody can tweet anything.

[tabatha]

5. A new Massacre in Idlib

Posted by abeer on February 21st, 2012
Idlib:
Jabal Al-Zawiyah: The regime’s army is raiding Ebdeta town with 15 tanks and one Zill car. Several martyrs have fallen and until now the residents couldn’t pull them out of the streets due to the intense shooting by security forces

Jabal Al-Zawiyah: Hussam Bakour Al-Asa’ad and Mustafa Bakour Al-Asa’ad were martyred by security forces’ gunfire in Ebdeta town

Jabal Al-Zawiyah: The number of martyrs in Ebdeta and Ebleen towns who were shot by security forces has reached to 12 so far. The regime’s army destroyed more than 10 homes after raiding the two adjacent towns amid intense shelling. The martyrs are: Hassan Mohammas Kheir Al-Homoud, Omar Mustafa Al-Homoud, Mohammad Homoud Shehaiber, Samir Ahmad Al-Asa’ad, Ahmad Mohammad Hassan Shehaibar, Najeeb Mohammad Shehaibar, Hassan Khalid Shehaibar, Mahmoud Khalid Al-Khateeb, Waleed Abdul Hameed Fadil, Khalid Ahmad Al-Homoud, Ali Mustafa Shehaibar and four un-identified corpses

Jabal Zawiya: Ibdita: The regime’s army detained Abed al-Rahman al-Aamer, Mohammed Amer Asaad, Ayman Abed al-Razaq al-Asaad, Bilal Amer al-Asaad, Marwan Amer al-Asaad, Saaed Mohammed al-Asaad, and Mohammed Abed al-Razaq. The regime’s forces put them in a cave below their own house, tortured them ferociously, and bombed the cave burying them alive. Their female family members are trying to recover their bodies beneath the rubble.

http://www.lccsyria.org/6603

[tabatha]

6. You were emphatic about no genocide in Libya.

Mouna Hashem @mannoush
Tyrant Assad is killing his people with the militery support of #IRAN & #Russia..Thank you world for allowing a GENOCIDE in the 21st.century