DAMASCUS: Syrian army forces advanced yesterday around rebel-held areas of the Old City of Homs, as a car bomb hit a regime-controlled part of the city, killing 14 people.
Around 1,200 rebel fighters and nearly 200 civilians are believed to be inside the rebel-held parts of the Old City, under army siege for nearly two years.
The army, which began a broad offensive there on Tuesday, “is progressing daily by capturing buildings and tightening the noose around the terrorist groups,” a security source said.
Syrian authorities refer to all those seeking the ouster of President Bashar Al Assad as “terrorists.” The source added that regime forces had seized a church in the Old City.
State news agency SANA said the army had seized buildings in the Bab Hud and Wadi Al Sayeh districts and “killed a number of terrorists in Homs city and around it.” Rami Abdel Rahman, director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, confirmed the advance, saying the army was shelling Bab Hud and Wadi Al Sayeh. But he said the regime had so far only captured buildings rather than whole streets and fighting was continuing. “
State media reported that a car bomb exploded outside a mosque in the government-controlled Homs district of Al Walid. The bomb it detonated as people were leaving the mosque after Friday prayers.
Meanwhile, in northern Aleppo city, the Observatory said at least 10 people had been killed in shelling and aerial bombardment of rebel-held areas. At least three children were among those killed, the monitoring group said.
And in Mleiha, in Damascus province, the Observatory said at least 15 air raids had been carried out as regime forces backed by fighters from Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement battled rebels on the ground. AFP
