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Syrian humanitarian crisis worsens under attacks

The Associated Press

BEIRUT - Between blasts of rockets and mortar fire, Syrians used loudspeakers to call for blood donations and medical supplies Thursday in the stricken city of Homs, where a weeklong government offensive has created a deepening humanitarian crisis.

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Syrian rebels walk on the streets of Idlib, Syria, Thursday. Syrian forces fired mortars and rockets that killed scores of people in the rebellious city of Homs, activists said.

The Associated Press

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Government forces are trying to crush pockets of violent resistance in Homs, the epicenter of an 11-month-old uprising that has brought the country ever closer to civil war. The intense shelling in restive neighborhoods such as Baba Amr has made it difficult to get medicine and care to the wounded, and some areas have been without electricity for days, activists say.

"Snipers are on all the roofs in Baba Amr, shooting at people," Abu Muhammad Ibrahim, an activist in Homs, told The Associated Press by phone.

"Anything that moves, even a bird, is targeted. Life is completely cut off. It's a city of ghosts," he added. As he spoke, explosions could be heard in the background. "The bombardment has not eased, day or night," he said, asking to be identified by his nickname for fear of reprisals. "Do you hear the sound of the rockets? Children have been wounded, elderly with extreme injuries."

Hundreds of people are believed to have been killed since early Saturday in the heaviest attack the city has endured since the uprising began in March, activists said.

"This brutal assault on residential neighborhoods shows the Syrian authorities' contempt for the lives of their citizens in Homs," said Anna Neistat, associate emergencies director at Human Rights Watch.

Human Rights Watch also said eyewitness accounts, as well as video reviewed by the group's arms experts, suggest Syrian government forces are using long-range, indirect fire weapons such as mortars.

Such weapons "are inherently indiscriminate when fired into densely populated areas," the New York-based group said.

The wounded have overwhelmed makeshift hospitals and clinics, and there were growing concerns that the locked-down city could soon run out of supplies.