Syrian Defence Minister has visited army troops in Khaldiyeh, Homs

Syrian Defence Minister Fahd al-Freij has visited army troops in Khaldiyeh, a Homs district the army won back from rebel control in late July, state news agency SANA said on Monday.
The general conducted "a tour of Khaldiyeh, where he visited the army units that had restored security and stability in the neighbourhood," SANA said.
The army's takeover of Khaldiyeh came after an intense month-long campaign of daily air and artillery shellings.
It was also the regime's second military success since June when it captured the rebel-held town of al-Qusayr in Homs province with help from Lebanon's Shia movement Hezbollah.
"Liberating Khaldiyeh is proof of great heroism," Freij told soldiers. "Facing terrorists in the narrow streets of this district, to cleanse the buildings, is a great military exploit."
"We are determined to chase down the criminals in order to save the country," he added.
[AFP]
 

Syria Update.

Iran has agreed to supply Damascus with $3.6bn in oil in exchange for the right to invest in the country, Syria's state news agency SANA said on Tuesday.
"An agreement was signed on Monday in Tehran... by the Iranian and Syrian central banks, granting Syria a credit line worth $3.6bn," it reported. The deal stipulates that Syria will pay back the cost of the oil loan "through Iranian investments of various kinds in Syria", said SANA.
[SANA]

.................
Syrian army retakes another district of Homs says state television after taking most of the Khaldieh neighbourhood in recent days.
Syrian state television showed pictures of Homs on Tuesday saying that that the government army had regained control of the Al Matahen district of the devastated city. The Syrian army made gains in the Khaldieh after launching an offensive in the area on July 27. Rebels had held Khaldieh for more than a year.
[Syria State Television]

At least 17 killed in air, mortar attacks in Syria

By ALBERT AJI and BARBARA SURK
Associated Press

DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) -- Mortar attacks and air raids in two major cities in Syria killed at least 17 people, activists and government officials said Tuesday, as a Kurdish opposition leader was killed in the north.

The deadliest attack struck the central city of Homs, which has been an opposition stronghold since the beginning of the two-year conflict and is now the target of a withering offensive by President Bashar Assad's forces.

Three mortars slammed into a government-held district of Dablan before dawn Tuesday, killing 10 people and wounding 26 others, a government official. He said many living in the neighborhood fled there to escape fighting elsewhere in Homs. The official spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations for civil servants.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 11 people - including a child - were killed. The Observatory, citing hospital officials, also said attack happened late Monday close to midnight.

Homs has been the center of protests against Assad's rule since the Syrian revolt started in March 2011. In recent weeks, the city has been the scene of fierce fighting between Assad's troops and rebels fighting to topple his regime. On Monday, government troops captured Homs' strategic area of Khaldiyeh after a monthlong battle, bringing Assad's regime closer to its goal of capturing all of Syria's third largest city.

In northern Syria, regime warplanes hit the town of Andan, killing seven people, including five children, the Observatory said.

Much territory in the north and the northeast along the borders with Turkey and Iraq has been under rebel control since last summer, when the opposition forces seized large swaths of land and several neighborhoods in Aleppo, Syria's largest city. In February, rebels also captured Raqqa, the first city to fall entirely under opposition control.

In the past months, Assad's troops regrouped and have been battling rebels on multiple fronts, capturing strategic towns near the border with Lebanon and steadily regaining control of territory they previously lost to the opposition, including around the capital, Damascus, the seat of Assad's power. The battlefield successes largely have been credited to the regime's superior firepower, including heavy artillery and fighter jets, as well as battle-hardened fighters from Lebanon's militant Hezbollah group that have been fighting rebels alongside Syrian troops in recent weeks.

While the rebels have been forced into retreat on the central front, rebel-on-rebel fighting also has sapped energy from anti-Assad forces.

A prominent Kurdish opposition leader, Issa Hisso, was killed Tuesday in a bomb attack in the city of Qamishli, near the border with Turkey, the Observatory said. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack. A Kurdish member of the Syrian parliament, Omar Ossi, confirmed to The Associated Press that Hisso had died in car bombing.

Hisso was an opponent of Assad's regime. He also was speaking against radical Islamic groups, including the al-Qaida-linked Jabhat al-Nusra and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, which have gained influence in the opposition movement after leading several battles against the regime.

Kurds, the largest ethnic minority in Syria, make up more than 10 percent of the country's 23 million people. Their loyalties in the conflict are split. Kurdish rebel factions have fought al-Qaida lined militants in recent weeks for control of the territory they captured from the regime together.

More than 100,000 people have been killed in the conflict and millions have been driven out of their homes, seeking shelter in safer areas of the country or in the neighboring Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey.

---

Surk reported from Beirut.

After Khalidiya, Syria conflict goes on

 

By Paul Wood BBC News, Beirut

Government and opposition sources are not quite yet in agreement on what is happening in Khalidiya.

Syrian state TV began reporting on Sunday night that this opposition enclave of Homs, held by the rebels since the summer of 2011, had fallen.
Activists and fighters in Homs denied it, saying the government had made big gains but there were still pockets of fighters hanging on.
Later though, one opposition source said the enclave was "80% gone", while another said that fighters had been pushed to the margins.
Hardly any activists or fighters in Khalidiya are active on Skype now - another sign that the retreat may have happened or is at least under way.
Offensive The fall of Khalidiya had been expected. One Western diplomat said he had been told recently by a rebel Free Syrian Army commander that it was not possible to get any ammunition or other supplies in. Cut off from help, it was only a matter of time, perhaps, for the rebels.
An Islamist brigade of the FSA posted video on YouTube of fighters wearing suicide belts. With no bullets left, this was their only weapon, they declared.

There are other parts of Homs still, just, in rebel hands. But if they, along with Khalidiya, do fall, Homs will become just the latest in a line of regime victories on the battlefield.

The regime's forces have been steadily picking off some of the villages around Homs.
Two months ago, with the help of the militant Lebanese Shia movement Hezbollah, they recaptured the nearby town of Qusair.
The government has halted - if not quite turned around - a rebel advance into the capital, Damascus.
Sources close to the Syrian regime say an offensive is also planned for the northern city of Aleppo. Certainly, the FSA is bracing itself for an assault on rebel-held parts of the city.
'Secure area' Some analysts are already speculating that this is the beginning of the end of the armed rebellion.
Western diplomats dealing with the armed opposition believe the government may be able to establish a "secure area" running from Damascus all the way up to Hama, a city 45km (28 miles) to the north of Homs, or even to Aleppo.
What happens now may depend on the extent of foreign intervention.
Saudi Arabia and Qatar have been sending weapons to the FSA for some time. The US is moving towards sending small arms. The UK is contemplating such a step, but would only do so after a vote in Parliament.
It would probably take a very large influx of weapons to break the government's momentum.
However, that does not mean that the armed uprising will be extinguished.
President Bashar al-Assad has had to use his own foreign fighters, from Hezbollah, to pursue his offensive.
He does not have enough loyal manpower to chase the rebels into the countryside, the mountains and the deserts.
Even if the government takes back the big cities and the main roads, Syria will remain divided, the conflict far from over. (BBC)
 

Syrian troops capture key Homs neighborhood

By ALBERT AJI and BASSEM MROUE
Associated Press

 

DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) -- Syria's beleaguered opposition forces suffered another blow Monday when government troops captured a key district in the embattled city of Homs that has been a rebel stronghold since the beginning of the country's uprising.

The capture of Khaldiyeh is a setback for the rebels in the strategic central heartland, bringing President Bashar Assad's regime closer to its goal of capturing all of Homs, Syria's third largest city - including neighborhoods in its Old City that the rebels have held for more than a year.

The opposition acknowledged the loss of Khaldiyeh, though some activists said there were still scattered clashes in northern sectors of the district where rebels were still putting up a fight. A senior member of the Western-backed Syria National Coalition said the regime's gains in Homs are not irreversible.

"It will be difficult, but not impossible to gain back what we've lost in Homs," Hadi Bahra, a member of the Coalition's political committee, told The Associated Press from Saudi Arabia.

Syrian TV aired live video from the neighborhood, showing troops roaming deserted streets and waving flags in front of shell-scarred buildings.

State news agency SANA quoted an unnamed army commander saying the fall of Khaldiyeh would significantly boost army operations aimed at dislodging rebels from central areas of Homs. Khaldiyeh is important because it links other rebel-held districts in the heart of the city through a network of tunnels the rebel dug to ferry weapons and other supplies, the commander said.

The U.S. State Department played down the significance Monday.

"While it is true that regime forces backed by Hezbollah and Iran may have made some gains on the ground and taken control of some areas within Homs and the surrounding area, it remains to be seen whether it can hold them," State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters.

A month ago, the government launched a sweeping offensive to retake rebel-held areas of Homs. Its capture would be the second major setback to rebels in central Syria in as many months.

In early June, regime forces captured the strategic town of Qusair in Homs province near the border with Lebanon. Troops have also captured Talkalakh, another border town in the province.

The province of Homs is Syria's largest, running from the Lebanese frontier in the west all the way to the border with Iraq and Jordan in the east. The city of Homs serves as a crossroads between the main highway from Damascus and the road to the coastal region, a stronghold of Assad's Alawite sect.

Khaldiyeh had a population of about 80,000, but only some 2,000 have remained there as residents have fled the violence, activists say. The heavy fighting over the past two years has caused extensive damage, with some buildings reduced to rubble.

In a report on Monday, Syrian state TV said "the Syrian army has restored security and stability in the whole neighborhood of Khaldiyeh in Homs."

A Syrian TV reporter embedded with troops in the area gave a live report standing in front of damaged buildings. He interviewed an army officer who said the troops fought a tough battle against rebels who mined buildings and fought from tunnels.

"As of this morning, our armed forces in cooperation with the (pro-government paramilitary) National Defense Forces have taken control of Khaldiyeh and are now cleansing the neighborhood," said the officer, surrounded by about a dozen soldiers and plainclothes security agents.

"The fate of terrorists will be under our feet," he said.

The Observatory has said that government troops are backed by Lebanese Hezbollah militants.

Hezbollah, which did not acknowledge whether its members are fighting in Khaldiyeh, played a major role in a battle last month in Qusair and lost scores of men there.

Observatory director Rami Abdul-Rahman said regime forces have captured most of the neighborhood apart from some fighting on its southern areas.

In the northern city of Aleppo, several rebel factions including the al-Qaida-linked Jabhat al-Nusra, or Nusra Front, attacked army posts in two neighborhoods in a an offensive titled "amputating infidels," the Observatory said.

It said rebels captured the neighborhood of Dahret Abed Rabbo and several buildings in Lairamoun there, and that eight government soldiers were killed.

Rebels have been on the offensive in Aleppo province and last week captured the strategic town of Khan el-Assal. Activists and state media said score of troops were killed there after their capture. The Western-backed Syrian National Council condemned the killings.

In the southern region of Quneitra, on the edge of the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, government troops captured the town of Mashara on Sunday night after intense fighting, the Observatory said.

----

Mroue reported from Beirut. Associated Press writers Barbara Surk in Beirut and Deb Riechmann in Washington contributed to this report. (AP)

Syrian TV: Troops capture key Homs neighborhood

DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) -- Government troops captured a neighborhood Monday in the embattled city of Homs that has been a rebel stronghold since the beginning of the Syrian uprising, dealing another blow to beleaguered opposition forces in the center of the country, according to the state media.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights activist group, however, denied that regime forces had seized all of the district of Khaldiyeh, saying there was still scattered fighting in southern areas of the neighborhood.

Syrian TV aired footage from the neighborhood, showing troops roaming deserted streets and waving flags in front of shell-scarred buildings. Two opposition activists in the area who could normally be contacted via Skype were offline Monday.

Government troops launched a sweeping offensive to retake rebel-held areas of Homs, Syria's third-largest city, a month ago. Even if small pockets of resistance remain, the fall of Khaldiyeh to regime troops appeared to be a foregone conclusion, and its capture would be the second major setback to rebels in central Syria in as many months.

In early June, regime forces captured the strategic town of Qusair in Homs province near the border with Lebanon. Troops have also captured the town of Talkalakh, another border town in the province.

The province of Homs is Syria's largest, and runs from the Lebanese frontier in the west all the way to the border with Iraq and Jordan in the east. The city of Homs holds strategic value because it serves as a crossroads: the main highway from Damascus to the north as well as the coastal region, which is a stronghold of President Bashar Assad's Alawite sect, runs through Homs.

Khaldiyeh had a population of about 80,000 but only some 2,000 remain there today as residents fled the violence, activists say. The heavy fighting over the past two years has caused extensive damage, with some buildings reduced to rubble.

In a report on Monday, Syrian state TV said "the Syrian army has restored security and stability in the whole neighborhood of Khaldiyeh in Homs."

A Syrian TV reporter embedded with troops in the area gave a live report standing in front of damaged buildings. He interviewed an army officer who said the troops fought a tough battle against rebels who mined buildings and fought from underground tunnels.

"As of this morning, our armed forces in cooperation with the (pro-government paramilitary) National Defense Forces have taken control of Khaldiyeh and are now cleansing the neighborhood," said the officer, surrounded by about a dozen soldiers and plainclothes security agents.

"The fate of terrorists will be under our feet," he said, claiming that all Homs will be soon "cleansed" of rebels.

The Observatory has said that troops are backed by members of Lebanon's Hezbollah group. Hezbollah, which did not acknowledge whether its members are fighting in Khaldiyeh, played a major role in a battle last month in Qusair, outside Homs, and lost scores of men there.

Observatory director Rami Abdul-Rahman said government troops have captured most of the neighborhood apart from some fighting on its southern areas.

Another opposition activist, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter, said the battle in Khaldiyeh "is almost over." He acknowledged that troops are almost in full control of the area.

In the northern city of Aleppo, several rebel factions including the al-Qaida-linked Jabhat al-Nusra, or Nusra Front, attacked army posts in two neighborhoods in a an offensive titled "amputating infidels" the Observatory said.

It said rebels captured several buildings in the neighborhoods of Dahret Abed Rabbo and Lairamoun, and that eight government soldiers were killed.

Rebels have been on the offensive in Aleppo province and captured last week the strategic town of Khan el-Assal. Activists and state media said score of troops were killed there after their capture. The Western-backed Syrian National Council condemned the killings.

In the southern region of Quneitra, on the edge of the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, government troops captured the town of Mashara on Sunday night after intense fighting, the Observatory said.

----(AP)

Mroue reported from Beirut

Syrian troops reportedly advance grip on Homs

Hezbollah-backed government forces forged ahead with their assault on key rebel district in central city, activists say.

 
Syrian government forces backed by Lebanese Hezbollah forces have been consolidating their control over a key rebel district of Syria’s third city Homs, a watchdog and state media said.
The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said troops as of Sunday controlled most of Khaldiyeh, an embattled northern neighbourhood in Homs.

State-run Syrian TV broadcast live coverage from Khaldiyeh - video showed extensive destruction. Activists said most of the buildings in the mainly residential district were no longer fit to live in.
The military moves came a day after they expelled rebels from a 13th century landmark mosque in Khaldiyeh they controlled for more than a year.
After capturing the strategic town of Qusair near the Lebanon border last month, government troops launched an offensive on rebel-held areas in Homs, late in June. They have been pushing into Khaldiyeh and other neighbourhoods in the Old City that have been under opposition control since 2011.
An unidentified Syrian army commander standing before a destroyed building in Khaldiyeh told an embedded state TV reporter that the military expected to "liberate" the last part of Khaldiyeh within the next two days.
Strategic location
In addition to its symbolic value, Homs is a geographic lynchpin in Syria.
The main highway from Damascus to the north and the coast, a stronghold of President Bashar Assad's Alawite sect, runs through Homs.
Also on Sunday, Syria's main exiled opposition group condemned the reported execution of scores of government soldiers by rebels in a northern Syrian village several days ago.
The Syrian National Coalition made up of exiled opposition leaders said in a statement that it was forming a commission of inquiry to investigate the incident in Khan al-Assal.
Elsewhere, SOHR said the death toll from nearly two weeks of clashes between al-Qaeda-linked fighters and Kurdish rebels in northeastern Syria stands at 120.

SOHR monitors the Syrian war through a network of activists on the ground. (al-jazeera)

Syrian government forces Sunday to retake the largest rebel-held district of Homs

Syrian government forces bolstered by Lebanese  Hezbollah forces were poised on Sunday to retake the largest rebel-held  district of the country's third city Homs, a watchdog and state media said.
The London-based  Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said troops now controlled most of Khaldiyeh after a month-long assault and were battling insurgents on its outskirts.
The military moves came a day after they expelled rebels from a 13th century landmark mosque they controlled for more than a year.
State-run Syrian TV broadcast live coverage from Khaldiyeh, an embattled northern neighborhood in Homs, where the army has been advancing.
Activists said most of the buildings in the mainly residential district were no longer fit to live in.

(al-jazeera)

Syrian troops consolidate gains in Homs city

DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) -- Syrian government forces backed by Lebanese Hezbollah militants forged ahead with their assault on a key rebel district in the central city of Homs Sunday, activists said, as President Bashar Assad's forces try to crush resistance in the few remaining opposition-held neighborhoods in the city known as the "capital of the revolution."

The push on Homs is part of a broader government offensive on rebel-held areas that has seen regime troops retake some of the territory they have lost to opposition fighters in Syria's more than 2-year-old conflict. Assad's forces turned their sights on Homs, the country's third-largest city, after capturing the strategic town of Qusair near the Lebanon border last month.

Government troops have made headway in Homs in recent days, capturing a 13th century landmark mosque in the contested Khaldiyeh neighborhood that had been in rebel hands for more than a year. Homs holds immense symbolic and strategic importance to both sides, and the ferocity of the fighting for control of it has left much of the city in ruins.

The opposition accused the regime of pulverizing Khaldiyeh and said their victory was "hollow."

On Sunday, Syrian state TV had live coverage from Khaldiyeh, which is located on the northern edge of the Old City, broadcasting footage that showed gaping holes in apartment blocks, shattered buildings with collapsed floors and blackened facades. Soldiers and reporters walked through rubble-strewn streets. The military took TV crews working for pro-regime media outlets deep into the neighborhood, suggesting the army was confident it had secured the area.

An unidentified Syrian army commander standing before a destroyed building in Khaldiyeh told an embedded state TV reporter that the military expected to "liberate" the last part of the district within the next two days.

Syrian government forces captured the ancient Khalid Ibn al-Walid Mosque in Khaldiyeh on Saturday. Syrian TV aired a report with video from inside the mosque, showing heavy damage. The video showed debris littering the floor and a portion of the mosque appeared to have been burned.

Famous for its nine domes and two minarets, the mosque has been a symbol for rebels in the city, and the government takeover dealt a powerful symbolic blow to the rebellion. On Monday, government troops shelled the mosque, damaging the tomb of Ibn al-Walid, a revered figure in Islam. Video showed the tomb's roof knocked down.

The Observatory and other activists said government troops are backed by members of Lebanon's Hezbollah, which has been fighting alongside regime forces in their assault on rebel-held territory in the central region.

Syria's main exiled opposition group, the Syrian National Coalition, acknowledged that rebels had retreated from parts of Khaldiyeh, calling it a "tactical withdrawal."

"After the heavy bombardment of the Khaldiyeh area of Homs, using thousands of rockets, explosive barrels and large amounts of heavy weaponry ... Assad forces have managed to overtake a few yards of the land that they have pulverized," it said in a statement.

It said Assad was attempting the lift the sagging morale of his soldiers by exaggerating its victory in Homs, and vowed that rebels would soon retake the area.

In addition to its symbolic value, Homs is a geographic lynchpin in Syria. The main highway from Damascus to the north and the coast, a stronghold of President Bashar Assad's Alawite sect, runs through Homs.

An official in the Homs governor's office said a car bomb exploded near a checkpoint on the Homs-Tartous highway, killing three people and wounding 5 others. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to give official statements.

In northeastern Syria, the death toll from nearly two weeks of clashes between al-Qaida-linked fighters and Kurdish militiamen rose to 120, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights activist group. It said the dead include 79 fighters from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant and Jabhat al-Nusra, both al-Qaida-affiliated rebel groups. The Observatory monitors the Syrian war through a network of activists on the ground.

The latest round of fighting flared in Ras al-Ayn on July 6 in the predominantly Kurdish province of Hassakeh in the northeast near the Turkish border. Kurdish gunmen are fighting to expel the militants, whom they see as a threat.

Also on Sunday, the Coalition condemned the reported execution of scores of government soldiers by rebels in a northern Syrian village several days ago, and said "those involved in such crimes will be held accountable."

The group, made up of exiled opposition leaders, said in a statement that it was forming a commission of inquiry to investigate the incident in Khan al-Assal.

Syrian activists say rebels killed 150 government soldiers, some after they surrendered, on Monday and Tuesday in the village outside Aleppo, the country's largest city.

State media said that 123 "civilians and military personnel" were killed in a "massacre" and others were still missing.

The Coalition said initial reports showed "armed groups" not affiliated with the main rebel coalition were involved. It did not elaborate, but the al-Qaida-linked Jabhat al-Nusra says its fighters participated in the battle.

Syrian Information Minister Omran al-Zoubi said the crime "will not pass without punishment," vowing that the perpetrators will pay a "dear price."

In an interview with Syrian TV late Saturday, he said the "massacre" aimed to spread fear and panic among people at a time when the Syrian military was achieving significant progress on the ground.

In a separate statement, the Coalition urged Egypt to release dozens of Syrians it said were arrested last week allegedly for violating residency regulations.

It said Egyptian police arrested at least 72 Syrian men and nine boys at checkpoints on main roads in Cairo. Some had valid visas or residence permits but were arrested "on the pretext of not having residence permits," it said.

The Coalition said regulations concerning Syrians' entrance into Egypt were changed. Since July 8, Syrians have been required to obtain entry visas and security clearance before they are allowed to enter Egypt.

It urged the Egyptian government not to deport Syrians, saying Cairo has an "ethical and humanitarian duty to protect the Syrian people fleeing the tyranny" at home.

---

Karam reported from Beirut. Associated Press writer Jamal Halaby in Amman, Jordan, contributed to this report.

Syrian troops capture historic mosque in Homs.

By ALBERT AJI and BASSEM MROUE
Associated Press

DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) -- Syrian government forces captured a historic mosque in the central city of Homs on Saturday, expelling rebel forces who had been in control of the 13th century landmark for more than a year and dealing a symbolic blow to opposition forces.

State-run news agency SANA quoted an unnamed military official as saying that troops took control of the Khalid Ibn al-Walid Mosque in the heavily disputed northern neighborhood of Khaldiyeh.

Syrian TV aired a report Saturday night with footage from inside the mosque, showing heavy damage and the tomb's dome knocked out. The footage showed debris strewn on the floor and a portion of the mosque appeared to have been burned.

The mosque, famous for its nine domes and two minarets, has been a symbol for rebels in the city that is known as "the capital of the revolution." On Monday, government troops shelled the mosque, damaging the tomb of Ibn al-Walid, a revered figure in Islam.

After capturing the strategic town of Qusair near the Lebanon border last month, government troops launched an offensive on rebel-held areas in Homs, Syria's third largest city, late in June. They have been pushing into Khaldiyeh and other neighborhoods in the Old City that have been under opposition control since 2011.

A Homs-based activist who identified himself only by his nickname, Abu Bilal, for fear of government reprisals, said troops entered the mosque area from the east. He said regime forces now control more than 60 percent of Khaldiyeh.

"There are very fast developments in Khaldiyeh," Abu Bilal told The Associated Press via Skype. He said he had no further details from local rebel commanders.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported heavy fighting around the mosque, saying the government troops are backed by members of Lebanon's Hezbollah group.

A journalist embedded with Syrian troops told the AP that a reporter for Iran's Arabic-language Al-Alam television station was wounded near the mosque. A sniper's bullet struck the thigh of journalist Roa al-Ali, the journalist said, asking his name not be made public as he wasn't authorized to give information to other media outlets.

On top of its symbolic value, Homs is also a geographic lynchpin in Syria. The main highway from Damascus to the north as well as the coastal region, which is a stronghold of President Bashar Assad's Alawite sect, runs through Homs. Both rebels and the regime place a high strategic value on the city.

And although Assad's forces have been on the offensive in recent months, activists say the regime wants to capture the entirety of Homs to include it in a potential future Alawite state - stretching from Homs to the coast - where Assad could make his last stand if the civil war swings against him.

Assad is a member of the Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shiite Islam, while most of the rebels fighting to topple his regime are Sunnis.

Khaldiyeh had a population of about 80,000 but only some 2,000 remain there today as residents fled the violence. The heavy fighting over the past two years has destroyed wide areas and knocked down entire buildings.

Earlier Saturday, Syria's state media said talks between the Syrian government and a United Nations delegation tasked with investigating chemical weapons allegations in the nation's civil war have "resulted in an agreement on ways of moving forward."

Assad's government invited a U.N. team to visit Damascus earlier this month after requesting that the world body investigate an alleged chemical attack in Khan al-Assal, a village in the north. The Syrian regime and the rebels fighting to topple it accuse each other of using chemical agents in the March 19 incident, which killed 31 people.

Assad's government refused to have a possible inquiry include other alleged chemical attack sites in Homs, Damascus and elsewhere.

A joint statement by the foreign ministry and the U.N. that appeared Saturday on SANA's website said the meetings were "comprehensive and fruitful and resulted in an agreement on ways of moving forward."

It did not elaborate. The U.N. team couldn't be reached for comment.

Saturday's announcement on the possible U.N. probe agreement on Khan al-Assal coincided with government allegations that the rebels committed "a massacre" in the village, killing 123 "civilians and military personnel," according to a SANA report. SANA said others are still missing.

The report said "terrorists" were behind the recent killings in Khan al-Assal, a term the government uses for rebels. The Observatory previously said at least 150 government soldiers were killed on Monday and Tuesday there, some after they had surrendered.

A statement released by al-Qaida-linked Jabhat al-Nusra - or the Nusra Front - said 150 soldiers, pro-government gunmen and Shiite militiamen were killed in Khan al-Assal. The statement said fighters captured 63 soldiers alive but 55 of them fled. Nusra Front said its members killed 15 of them before 40 surrendered. The statement did not say if the 40 were still alive.

The conflicting claims could not be independently reconciled.

In Aleppo, a rocket fired by government forces into a rebel-held district killed at least 29 including 19 under the age of 18 and four women, the Observatory said Saturday. The attack happened Friday during government shelling in the Bab al-Nairab neighborhood of Aleppo.

Syria's conflict began in March 2011 largely as peaceful protests against Assad's rule. It escalated into a civil war after opposition supporters took up arms to fight a brutal government crackdown on dissent.

More than 100,000 people have been killed in the conflict, according to the U.N.'s recent estimate.

---

Associated Press writer Barbara Surk in Beirut contributed to this report. Mroue reported from Beirut.

regime forces gained ground in the Khaldiyeh district in Homs

Hezbollah-backed regime forces gained ground in the Khaldiyeh district in Homs after ousting rebels in fierce clashes in the flashpoint city, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
Regime forces now control "60 percent of Khaldiyeh," the London-based Observatory said.
They also reported earlier that regime forces captured the Khaled bin Walid mosque.
Syria's official press also said the army was now back in control of most of Khaldiyeh, while an activist on the ground told the AFP news agency that the sector was being shelled "day and night". (AL-jazeera)

Regime forces have control half of the Khaldiyeh district of Homs after fierce fighting

Regime forces backed by Hezbollah have control half of the Khaldiyeh district of Homs after ousting rebels in fierce fighting in the central Syrian city, Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Saturday.
"Loyalist forces backed by fighters from Hezbollah have advanced over the last 24 hours and now control 50 percent of Khaldiyeh," the watchdog said.
Its chief Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP that overnight, "there was continuous heavy mortar and artillery fire" and that the rebel district was still being pounded. He said rebels were putting up "fierce resistance" amid "very intense clashes".
Military network the Syrian Revolution General Commission also reported heavy fighting in the district that has been besieged by regime forces for more than a year.
"Khaldiyeh is being targeted by an uninterrupted heavy bombardment, and on the ground there is fierce fighting between Free Syrian Army fighters and regime forces backed by Lebanon's Hezbollah trying to take the district," an SRGC statement said.
It and the Observatory both said the Old City district of Homs -- dubbed the "capital of the revolution" against President Bashar al-Assad -- was being pummelled too.
The latest regime offensive on besieged rebel-held neighbourhoods of Homs is now in its fourth week.

Syrian rebels kill woman in attack on civilian convoy: activists

BEIRUT | Wed Jul 24, 2013 6:37am EDT

(Reuters) - Rebels attacked a convoy of trucks and buses in northern Syria, activists said on Wednesday, after Islamist militants had warned they would target all vehicles on the road to stop the army from using its only remaining route to Aleppo.
One woman was killed and 19 people were wounded, some critically, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an anti-Assad monitoring group based in Britain.
The hardline Islamist rebel group Ahrar al-Sham uploaded video footage of the attack onto YouTube on Tuesday. It shows rebels firing artillery and mortars from a barren hillside and several trucks on fire. There is no return fire from the convoy of around 30 vehicles on the road between Salamiyeh, east of the central city of Homs, and Aleppo, Syria's largest city.
The road is the army's only route to the embattled city of Aleppo, with the rest blocked by rebels, the Observatory's director, Rami Abdelrahman, said by telephone.
The Syrian conflict started with peaceful protests in March 2011, but after a crackdown by government forces turned into a civil war that has become increasingly sectarian. Nearly 100,000 people have been killed, according to the United Nations.
Majority Sunni Muslims lead the revolt, while Assad, whose family has ruled Syria for 43 years, gets his core support from his own Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shi'ite Islam.
Jabhat al-Nusra, another Islamist rebel group affiliated with al Qaeda, issued a statement on Monday warning residents it would attack any vehicle found on the road to Aleppo.
"We warn civilians against being dragged into the criminal regime's attempts to use them as human shields and as a cover to secure its movements," the statement said.
An unidentified voice in Tuesday's video says the attack hit a military convoy. Activists said the victims were civilians.
"They are all Christian Syrian-Armenians who live in Aleppo. They travelled in a large convoy because it is safer," said Abdelrahman, citing medical staff at an Aleppo hospital where the wounded were being treated.
Pulse Gathering for Syrian Civil Youth, which calls itself a non-violent group against sectarianism, said on its Facebook page on Wednesday that the attack targeted civilians, including women and children, and called it "a reprehensible crime".
Syrian state media have not mentioned the incident.
Reporting and security restrictions make it hard to verify accounts of events in Syria.
(Reporting by Stephen Kalin; Editing by Alistair Lyon)

Syrian authorities blocking access to needy in Homs: Red Cross

 
GENEVA | Wed Jul 24, 2013 9:55am EDT

(Reuters) - Syrian authorities are blocking access to the old city of Homs, where trapped civilians are in dire need of food and medical supplies, the Red Cross said on Wednesday, warning of possible "tragic" consequences.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) revealed last Friday that it was negotiating a humanitarian pause to be able to enter Homs, where President Bashar al-Assad's forces have been conducting a heavy offensive against rebels, with air and artillery strikes.
"We have been trying, for close to 20 days now, to bring medical supplies and other aid to the old city of Homs," Magne Barth, head of the ICRC delegation in Syria, said in a statement issued in Geneva.
"Despite lengthy negotiations with both sides, and three trips back and forth between Damascus and Homs, we have still not received the go-ahead from the Syrian authorities," he said.
Homs, in central Syria, is the epicenter of the armed insurgency that grew from popular street protests against more than four decades of Assad family rule. Some 2,000 people are now believed to be trapped there, aid agencies say.
Reaching tens of thousands of people in areas encircled by government forces or armed opposition groups remains one of the toughest challenges the ICRC faces in Syria, the agency said.
Under international humanitarian law, warring parties are obliged to allow rapid safe passage of humanitarian relief for civilians.
"They must also allow civilians in areas besieged by fighting to leave for safer areas, should they wish to do so. Regrettably, these obligations are not always fulfilled," the agency said.
(Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay; Editing by Robin Pomeroy)

Syria rebels reinforce key suburb in Damascus battle

(Reuters) - Syrian rebels poured reinforcements into a key Damascus suburb on Tuesday in an attempt to push back government troops who have renewed their campaign to secure the capital and build on battlefield gains elsewhere in the country.
Fighting centered on Qaboun, a rebel-held district where Syrian troops backed by tanks and artillery had made inroads on Monday as part of efforts to consolidate control over Damascus, President Bashar al-Assad's power base.
After two years of rebel gains in a war that has cost more than 90,000 lives, the tide has turned somewhat for Assad's forces, allowing them to seize the city of Qusair last month and press on with a campaign to link Damascus to Assad's coastal strongholds.
In facing down the mainly Sunni rebels seeking to oust him, the Syrian leader has received important backing from Shi'ite Iran and from Iranian-backed Hezbollah fighters from Lebanon as the war takes on an increasingly sectarian aspect.
At the same time, the rebels are plagued by infighting between Islamist groups and members of the more liberal Free Syrian Army, which is backed by the West and some Arab nations.
The increasingly fragmented and brutal nature of the war was illustrated by an incident in Homs province, where gunmen loyal to Assad shot dead at least six mediators sent to try to reconcile warring sectarian groups in an area where opposing sides had until now been able to coexist.
Residents said the killings on Monday evening in the village of Hajar al-Abyad highlighted the growing challenge of mediating between towns held by rebel groups and those controlled by pro-Assad militias known as "shabbiha".
In a separate incident near the Turkish border in the north, Islamist rebel fighters from the al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front clashed with Kurdish armed men, who generally support the creation of an autonomous region within Syria.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a pro-opposition monitoring group, said the fighting broke out after Nusra fighters attacked a Kurdish patrol and took a gunman hostage.
The Kurds said they had killed eight Nusra Front militants in what they said was a territorial dispute.
PRESSING CAMPAIGN
Assad's forces are pressing their campaign at a time when the Free Syrian Army has yet to receive weapons promised by Washington but delayed by objections by U.S. lawmakers.
A U.S. official said on Monday that the Obama administration had made progress in overcoming these concerns but some details remained unresolved.
Both Republican and Democratic lawmakers fear the weapons could end up in the hands of Islamist militants, and would not be enough to tip the balance against the better-equipped Syrian government anyway.
Britain, meanwhile, said it would give Syrian rebels equipment to protect themselves against chemical and biological weapons as "a matter of special urgency".
Britain has said forces loyal to Assad have made limited use of chemical weapons, which the Syrian government denies.
In an attempt at unity, the Syrian opposition now intends to create a 10-member executive council that can to draw together disparate factions into a more structured army with better financing and weapons, Michel Kilo, a senior opposition figure, told Reuters in Paris.
In Damascus, the latest fighting comes almost a year after one of the rebels' most spectacular attacks in the capital - a bomb attack last July 18 which killed several of Assad's most senior security officials and led some commentators to predict Assad would soon fall.
Abu Nidal, a rebel spokesman in Damascus, said on Tuesday that his fighters were trying to prevent the army advancing further into Qaboun, which it entered on Monday.
"Rebel reinforcements are entering the area," he told Reuters by Skype. "We expect the army to advance further into the area but they will be stopped."
The intensity of the fighting could be seen in footage posted on the internet by opposition activists.
The amateur video showed a large grey plume of smoke rising from a densely built residential area of Damascus. Mount Qasioun, which overlooks the capital, can be seen in the background.
Text accompanying the footage posted on Tuesday said the smoke came from a ground-to-ground missile fired into Qaboun.
ARMY CHECKPOINT
Elsewhere in the city, nine people including a child were killed at an army checkpoint, the Observatory said in a statement. Quoting activists in the area, the British-based group said they were all shot in the head.
It added that mortar bombs were being fired by the army into the southern district of Yarmouk, a Palestinian refugee camp on the edge of central Damascus that has fallen in and out of government and rebel control during the past year.
Activists and residents said also that at least five mortar shells hit the Damascus neighborhood of Masaken Barze, injuring several people.
Clashes and bombardment were reported by activists in nearly every province on Tuesday, from central Homs city to the northwestern farming province of Idlib to the eastern desert city of Deir al-Zor.
In the south of Syria near the Israeli border, the Observatory reported clashes between rebels and government forces in the village of al-Qahtaniya.
"Initial reports indicate that several fighters in the regime forces were killed, and some armored vehicles were destroyed," the Observatory said.
(Editing by Giles Elgood)

Seven Members of Syrian war reconciliation group killed

BEIRUT (AP) -- Pro-government gunmen killed seven members of a local Syrian reconciliation group near the central city of Homs, activists said Tuesday, as troops shot dead nine people including a child at a checkpoint in a suburb of the capital.

The latest killings coincide with an offensive by President Bashar Assad's troops in Damascus and its surrounding suburbs, as well as in the strategic province surrounding Homs.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the seven men, including two retired army officers, were Sunni Muslims working to convince gunmen to drop their weapons and return to normal life. They were killed Monday in the village of Hajar Abyad, where residents are known to be regime supporters, it said.

Assad's troops have captured several nearby rebel-held areas in recent weeks including the towns of Qusair and Talkalkh near the border with Lebanon. Late last month, they launched an attack to try to capture rebel-held areas of Homs, Syria's third largest city.

They have also made headway against fighter brigades on the edge of Damascus and eastern suburbs.

The uprising against Assad's rule began in March 2011 and has deteriorated into an insurgency with increasingly sectarian overtones. Rebels, who are overwhelmingly Sunni, have been assisted by foreign fighters, while government forces have been bolstered by guerrillas from the Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah.

The killing came three days after rebels attacked a nearby army checkpoint, killing seven people including members of the military. It was not immediately clear if Monday's killings were in retaliation for Friday's ambush.

A Syrian activist, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals, said the gunmen who attacked the checkpoint had already been cleared by the committee as they have surrendered their arms.

The Observatory said the dead included two retired army officers, a mosque preacher and a former mayor.

In the Damascus suburb of Qarah, troops shot dead nine people including a child at an army checkpoint in the area, the Observatory said.

It was not clear whether those killed were fighters or civilians. An amateur video showed seven dead men, some of them with beards, and a boy with a bloodied face. The dead appeared to have suffered bullet wounds, some to the head.

"These are Bashar's crimes during Ramadan," a man could be heard saying in the video referring to the Muslim holy month that began last week.

The Observatory also reported fighting in the town of Qahtaniyeh on the edge of the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

Rami Abdul-Rahman, who heads the Observatory, said regime forces were attacking rebels in the town.

More than 93,000 have been killed and millions uprooted from their homes in the conflict.

By BASSEM MROUE
Associated Press