Syria: 100 dead as Homs bombarded again; 18 babies die in hospital after shelling cuts off electricity
Artillery, bombs and heavy machine guns: forces of the Assad regime are continuing the assault on the city of Homs, where civilian men, women and children are the ones to pay the ultimate price. More than 100 have been reported killed in the latest attack according to various sources. These included three unarmed families, as well as 18 premature babies being reported as having died in a hospital in Homs, after shelling cut off all electricity:
Assad army attack Homs, babies dead after hospital electricity cut off
Eighteen premature babies were said to be among dozens of civilians who died on one of the bloodiest days of the Syrian uprising.
They perished yesterday after their incubators failed during power cuts in the rebel-held city of Homs, according to reports.
Government militiamen also killed 19 people from three families in the besieged city after storming homes.
The bloodshed came as Britain accused Russia of having blood on its hands by sending arms to Syria for President Bashar Assad to slaughter his own people.
Foreign Secretary William Hague told Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov to stop sending weapons to fuel the civil war.
Although there was no official confirmation of the babies’ deaths in Homs, activist Mohammad Hassan confirmed that power had gone down during the terrifying onslaught by government forces.
‘We counted 47 killed since midnight,’ he said.
Bombardment intensified in the early morning, he added, targeting Sunni Muslim districts all hostile to Assad, whose minority Alawite sect has dominated Syria for five decades.
A group known as the Syrian Revolution General Commission put the day’s death toll even higher, at 100. Syrian state television blamed explosions on Homs militants. It accused ‘terrorists’ of targeting a refinery in the city with mortars, while activists blamed the army for a fire filmed by residents.
Another activist said security forces had captured a hospital, jailing the injured. The last field hospital in Baba Amr was bombed on Monday, he said, adding: ‘We lost ten people when we tried to evacuate it.
‘We are using kitchen knives for surgery. We don’t have any blood for donations, or oxygen. We are calling on help from the whole world.’