Free Syrian Army Pleads for Help for Siege City
Syrian troops pounded the central city of Homs on Monday, activists and monitors said, amid warnings from the rebel Free Syrian Army (FSA) of an impending "massacre" there.
Main opposition bloc the Syrian National Council (SNC) issued a distress plea from residents, urging international help "before it is too late."
The Syrian Revolution General Authority reported shelling of Jorat Shiyah neighborhood and "a violent bombardment of the Hamidiyeh district with rockets and artillery."
The FSA said "Arab and Islamic countries, friendly nations and concerned international organizations" bore responsibility for what happens.
"The brave city of Homs faces the strongest and most violent bombardment of rockets, artillery and tanks," its Supreme Military Council said in a statement.
"The regime is sending reinforcements estimated at 100 tanks in the direction of Homs... which clearly demonstrates its intention to commit the greatest massacre in history."
The FSA holds "the international community and its organizations responsible for what has happened, and what will happen in the brave city of Homs."
"To ignore these great people, you will pay a high price in the region for your positions, and you can be sure that this regime has been sentenced to death by its people and history."
The SNC in a statement called the 20-day siege of Homs "a campaign of genocide."
"We have called on the world to do something for our city and its trapped, unarmed civilians, yet there has been no response from anyone.
"We are being bombed mercilessly, indiscriminately and relentlessly with rocket launchers and helicopter gunships and mortars, tanks and heavy weapons."
"What is happening in Syria in general, and Homs in particular, is not a military or political conflict, but genocide," the SNC said.
It warned that a "war on defenseless people" would sow "mines of hatred" in the region, and urged the international community to "act immediately for the relief of Homs, before it is too late."
The appeal said Homs was experiencing shortages of food, water and medicine, and that "the Red Cross and Red Crescent are prevented from entering our neighborhoods" because of the fighting.
"Our wounded are dying of injuries and illnesses could be treated easily if the medicines were available."
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported one person shot by sniper fire in Homs early on Monday, a day after at least 91 people were killed nationwide, among them 59 civilians.