Syria forces reportedly kill 68 civilians

Based on monitors, Agence France Presse (AFP) is reporting that Syrian forces killed 68 civilians Tuesday after blitzing the city of Homs and a village in Idlib province. In the meantime the United States expressed support for a humanitarian ceasefire proposed by the Red Cross.

"In the most significant incident, at least 33 people were killed in the village of Abdita in the northwestern province of Idlib, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. Another 31 were killed in Homs province, including 21 people who died in 'intensive shelling' that targeted Homs city's Baba Amr neighbourhood, with the Khaldiyeh and Karm al-Zaytoun districts also blasted. And despite a plea by activists to allow women and children to flee Homs' besieged Baba Amr neighbourhood, more troops were sent to the outskirts of the restive city, with activists expressing fear they were preparing to storm it."

A Homs-based activist told AFP that "large reinforcements were heading to Homs." Another activist said that the neighbourhood had "no electricity, nor fuel," and that "snipers have hit water tanks," rendering the situation "bad beyond imagination."

AFP writes that was not able to verify the death toll nor the reports of shelling, as foreign reporters are given only limited access within the country.

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