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Syrian troops storm Homs district in new bloodshed

Dunya News

Syrian troops have stormed a restive neighborhood in Homs in new bloodshed.

Syrian troops have stormed a restive neighborhood in Homs, kicking in doors and making house-to-house arrests in an area that has spiraled out of government control after nearly a week of deadly assaults, activists said.The regime is scrambling to clear out Baba Amr, a major center of resistance and reprisal, as Damascus faces potential fallout from the Arab League for defying a peace plan brokered by the 22-nation body with persistent violence. According to activists, more than 110 people have been reported killed in the past week in Homs, Syrias third-largest city.The Arab League scheduled an emergency meeting in Cairo on Saturday. It was not clear what action the league would take if the bloodshed continues, although it could isolate Syria by suspending or freezing its membership. That would be a major symbolic blow to a nation that prides itself on being a powerhouse of Arab nationalism.Despite increasing international pressure, President Bashar Assad still has a firm grip on power and has shown no signs of moving to stop the crackdown on a nearly 8-month-old uprising against his regime. He blames the bloodshed on armed gangs and extremists acting out a foreign agenda to destabilize the regime, portraying himself as the lone force who can ward off the radicalism and sectarianism that have bedeviled neighbors in Iraq and Lebanon.The government reportedly has been facing strong resistance from army defectors who have taken refuge in the Baba Amr and surrounding areas in Homs, which has a population of some 800,000 and is some 100 miles (160 kilometres) north of the capital, Damascus.A key opposition group, the Syrian National Council, declared the city a disaster area on Monday and appealed for international intervention to protect civilians and for sending Arab and international observers to oversee the situation on the ground.
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