More than 100 people were shot, stabbed or possibly burned to death by government forces in the Syrian city of Homs, a monitoring group said on Thursday, and fierce fighting raged across the country.
The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said women and children were among the 106 people killed by forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad forces who stormed Basatin al-Hasawiya, a poor district on the edge of Homs, on Tuesday.
The massacre in the central city came the same day twin explosions killed over 80 people at Aleppo’s university in the north, according to the group.
Reuters cannot independently confirm reports due to reporting restrictions in Syria.
Two members of the Free Syrian Army hold their weapons as they take defense positions in a house in El Moalimin neighborhood in Homs July 14, 2012.
The Red Cross now views fighting in Syria as an internal armed conflict - a civil war in layman’s terms - crossing a threshold experts say can help lay the ground for future prosecutions for war crimes.
The independent humanitarian agency had previously classed the violence in Syria as localised civil wars between government forces and armed opposition groups in three flashpoints - Homs, Hama and Idlib. Picture taken July 14, 2012. REUTERS/Yazen Homsy
The Red Cross now views fighting in Syria as an internal armed conflict - a civil war in layman’s terms - crossing a threshold experts say can help lay the ground for future prosecutions for war crimes.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is the guardian of the Geneva Conventions setting down the rules of war, and as such is considered a reference in qualifying when violence has evolved into an armed conflict.
The independent humanitarian agency had previously classed the violence in Syria as localized civil wars between government forces and armed opposition groups in three flashpoints - Homs, Hama and Idlib.
But hostilities have spread to other areas, leading the Swiss-based agency to conclude the fighting meets its threshold for an internal armed conflict and to inform the warring parties of its analysis and their obligations under law.
EXCLUSIVE: Red Cross ruling raises questions of war crimes in Syria
Rebel fighters were forced to flee the eastern Syrian city of Deir al-Zor on Tuesday in the face of a fierce army assault, suffering the latest setback in their bid to oust President Bashar al-Assad.
In a separate blow to their cause, a respected human rights group accused the armed opposition of committing torture and arbitrary executions during the 12-month uprising - charges previously only leveled at the state security apparatus.
Despite recent successes, Assad still faces significant outside pressure. Ally Russia signaled on Tuesday it would support a U.N. statement backing a mission by envoy Kofi Annan to end the bloodshed so long as there was no ultimatums.
Read more: Syria rebels quit eastern city, army on offensive
Zohra Bensemra is a news photographer for Reuters. Based in Algiers, she traveled on assignment to Syria in February. This is her account of that journey:
The contact from Syria called: “Be ready in 30 minutes,” he said. “If you want to go, we have to go now.”
From the moment we left our Turkish hotel near the border, my colleague and I traveled on dirt roads used by smugglers and farmers around Syria’s northern frontier. The highways were busy with soldiers and shabbiha, irregular pro-Assad fighters.
Unlike in Libya, where clear frontlines divided rebels from Muammar Gaddafi’s army, in Syria, frontlines cut through villages and criss-cross farmlands in a treacherous maze. One village might be pro-Assad, the president’s picture hanging in every window, the next a solidly rebel-held town, another a mixture of communities where you could not trust your neighbor.
In Libya, miles divided the warring parties. In Syria, enemies are yards apart. The war is being fought from house to house. Not knowing the local terrain, we were completely dependent on our rebel guides to keep us alive.
Read more: ‘My journey into Syria’s nightmare’
Bashar al-Assad always said Syria would be different.
When the Arab uprisings first erupted more than a year ago, the Syrian president confidently said his government was in tune with its people, ready to reform on its own terms, and immune from the turmoil starting to sweep the region.
Within weeks he was proved wrong, when a few dozen protesters took to the streets of Damascus on March 15 to call for greater freedoms, setting off one of the most protracted and bloodiest of all the Arab revolts.
But while those uprisings toppled four Arab leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and Yemen, the 46-year-old Assad has withstood the year-long turmoil, deploying tanks, elite troops and artillery to crush rebellion across the country.
![DEVELOPING: The Red Cross says it has recovered the bodies of two journalists killed in Homs, Marie Colvin and Remi Ochlik.
Photo: A Turkish journalist holds portraits of American correspondent Marie Colvin (R) and French photographer Remi Ochlik during a demonstration against the killings of journalists in Syria, in front of the Syrian Embassy in Ankara, February 24, 2012. [REUTERS/Umit Bektas]
Read more: ICRC says journalists bodies to be taken to Damascus](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m09op1fUOy1qmaoalo1_1280.jpg)
DEVELOPING: The Red Cross says it has recovered the bodies of two journalists killed in Homs, Marie Colvin and Remi Ochlik.
Photo: A Turkish journalist holds portraits of American correspondent Marie Colvin (R) and French photographer Remi Ochlik during a demonstration against the killings of journalists in Syria, in front of the Syrian Embassy in Ankara, February 24, 2012. [REUTERS/Umit Bektas]
Read more: ICRC says journalists bodies to be taken to Damascus
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said on Friday that it was unable to enter the Homs district of Baba Amro on Friday, where it had hoped to bring in aid and evacuate the sick and wounded.
“The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the Syrian Arab Red Crescent Society (SARC) were not allowed to enter the Baba Amr district of Homs today,” ICRC President Jakob Kellenberger said in a statement issued in Geneva.
“It is unacceptable that people who have been in need of emergency assistance for weeks have still not received any help. We are staying in Homs tonight in the hope of entering Baba Amr in the very near future. In addition, many families have fled Baba Amr, and we will help them as soon as we possibly can.”
Read more: ICRC says it’s not allowed to enter Baba Amro district
Heavy fighting raged near Baba Amro in Homs on Wednesday after elite Syrian troops attacked the rebel-held bastion that has endured 25 days of siege and fierce bombardment, activists said.
The Farouq Brigade of the Free Syrian Army was trying to hold off the assault led by units of the armored Fourth Division, which is commanded by Maher al-Assad, the hardline brother of President Bashar al-Assad.
The rebels have sworn to fight to the last man, according to Ahmed, an activist who said he had just left Baba Amro. He said other opposition areas of Homs were also under attack but gave no details of casualties.
Read: Syrian army unit attacks rebel districts | Photos: Syrian uprising
