Syrian uprising: Crackdown on Homs 'intensifies'

Syrian forces have been stepping up a major operation against anti-government protesters in Homs, the country's third biggest city, activists say.

Residents report heavy gunfire and one activist said at least two people had been killed in the latest army raids.
About 50 people have been reported dead over the past few days. The Syrian authorities said soldiers came under machine-gun fire and grenade attack.
Some of the violence is reportedly between Sunni and Alawite communities.
Both the government and opposition accuse each other of encouraging sectarian violence.
The latest violence is part of a crackdown on the four-month uprising in the country, calling for President Bashar al-Assad to step down.
The government says it is committed to a programme of reforms. But opposition forces and Western powers say Mr Assad has lost his legitimacy as a result of the brutal crackdown that has claimed more than 1,470 civilian lives and left another 350 soldiers dead.
The government blames the unrest on "terrorists and armed criminal gangs" backed by a foreign conspiracy.
'Fingerprint of loyalty' The protesters and security forces in Homs are locked in a protracted and violent battle of wills, the BBC's Owen Bennett Jones reports from Beirut, in neighbouring Lebanon.
International journalists have been denied access to Syria, making it difficult to verify reports.

 

Thousands attended the "fingerprint" rally at a park in Damascus, the government said

But for days now, residents have been saying that they are frightened and stuck in their homes listening to gunfire outside, our correspondent says.
Some say they are too afraid to even look out of their windows.
On the streets, there are checkpoints and a heavy security presence as the authorities seek to arrest protest organisers. Hospitals have appealed for blood donors to help treat the wounded.
Sana, the Syrian official news agency, has given its version of events in Homs, carrying interviews with injured soldiers who said they came under attack from armed groups who used machine guns and heavy weapons.
Sana said 40 people - 32 security force members and eight civilians - were wounded by gunfire in two neighbourhoods of Homs.
"The army units interfered and sealed off the region to hunt the terrorist groups who attacked civilians, broke off roads in those neighbourhoods and terrified the citizens," it said.
Elsewhere in the country, it said there had been several pro-government rallies on Thursday, with thousands turning out for a festival in Damascus entitled "fingerprint of loyalty to the homeland".
The opposition, meanwhile, remains defiant. They have said that this Friday's protests will have the slogan "in honour of national unity".
The Assad family has ruled Syria for more than four decades with Bashar and his father, Hafez, before him, running one of the most authoritarian regimes in the Middle East.
The uprising, which kicked off in mid-M

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