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Syrian forces bombard rebel city of Homs

US embassy in Damascus closed; West scrambles for new strategy

Reuters, Beirut
Syrian forces bombarded Homs yesterday, killing 50 people in a sustained assault on several districts of the city which has become a centre of armed opposition to President Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian National Council opposition group said.
Western countries seeking Assad's downfall were scrambling to find a new diplomatic strategy after failing to enact a UN Security Council resolution that would have backed an Arab League call for Assad to stand aside.
The United States shut its embassy in Damascus and said all staff had left the country due to worsening security. Britain said it withdrew its ambassador from Syria, and would seek further European Union sanctions against Syria.
Russia fought back against blistering criticism from the West for
vetoing the resolution on Saturday. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who is due in Damascus today, said condemnations of Moscow's veto had verged on "hysteria".
US President Barack Obama said however hard Western countries are prepared to lean on Assad diplomat-icaUy, they still have no intention of using force to topple him, as they did against Muammar Gaddafi in Libya last year.
"I think it is very important for us to try to resolve this without recourse to outside military intervention. And I think that's possible," he told NBC's Today show.
Catherine al-Talli of the opposition Syrian National Council (SNC) told Reuters bombardment of Homs resumed early on Sunday, killing 50.
Assad's opponents say his tanks and artillery killed more than 200 people in the city on Friday night in
the bloodiest incident of the 11-month-old uprising against his rule.
That attack, branded a "massacre" by France and "unspeakable" by Obama, had set the stage for intense efforts over the weekend to lobby Moscow not to block the UN Security Council resolution.
But Russia has argued that the resolution was one-sided and would have amounted to taking the side of Assad's opponents in a civil war. China also vetoed the measure, by most accounts following Russia's lead.
The opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said it had the names of 43 people killed in Monday's bombardment of Homs. Television footage showed smoke rising from buildings, with explosions echoing in the background.
"This is the most violent bombardment in recent days," said one activist in Syria who was in touch with Homs
residents. Another activist said government troops were using multiple rocket launchers in the attack.
Damascus denies firing on houses and says images of dead bodies on the Internet have been staged. State media said yesterday "armed terrorist groups" were firing mortars in the city, setting fire to tires and blowing up empty buildings to give the impression that Homs was under fire from Assad's forces.
State news agency SANA described attacks in the city by "terrorists" who it said killed a textile factory worker. It said they also killed three officers and abducted several soldiers in Jabal al-Zawiya in the northern Idlib province.
The latest assault in Homs appeared to be widely targeted, with explosions in Khalidiya, Baba Amro, Bayada and Bab Dreib neighbourhoods, the activists said.