Shelling intensifies in Syria Homs, 11 dead-opposition

At least 11 people were killed and dozens wounded on Sunday in intensified Syrian army shelling on Sunni Muslim districts of Homs, the city at the epicenter of the revolt, a day after U.N. observers suspended their work, opposition activists said.   

"Around 85 percent of Homs is now under shelling or bombardment with mortar rounds and heavy machine guns," Abu Imad, an opposition campaigner, told Reuters by phone.   

"Dozens of wounded are without treatment because all the hospitals have fallen under the control of shabbiha. The dead are the lucky ones," he said, referring to the militia, known as shabbiha (ghosts), loyal to President Bashar al-Assad.   

Opposition sources said the shelling was heaviest on the main residential neighborhoods of Old Homs, al-Khalidiya, Jourat al-Shayyah, Qarabis and al-Bayyada, where Free Syrian army rebels are holed up along with the civilians remaining in Homs after hundreds of thousands fled over the last year.   

"We can no longer talk about any real fighting in Homs because the army has cut districts from each other and is systematically gutting neighborhood by neighborhood with artillery," activist Mohammad al-Homsi said.   

"Since the observers stopped working yesterday we have seen a clear escalation."   

Chief monitor General Robert Mood said on Saturday increased violence has forced United Nations observers to suspend operations, the clearest sign yet that a peace plan brokered by international mediator Kofi Annan has collapsed.

Earlier in the day, Syrian state media said competent authorities foiled an overnight infiltration attempt by armed groups from Lebanon into Syria, wounding and killing a number of terrorists, as activists said the Syrian troops shelled some restive neighborhoods of central Homs province Saturday.

Gunmen tried to enter Syria near al-Joura area in the outskirts of Homs and clashed with Syrian forces that were able to kill six terrorists and wounding four others.

Another infiltration attempt was also thwarted at Hallat, al- Aziziya and al-Aridha area in the outskirts of Talkalakh area in Homs and wounded a number of them while the rest fled back to Lebanon.

REUTERS/AP