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The assault focused on the town of Qusair, near the border withLebanon, where activists reported at least six people died onSunday alone. Three others died in shelling of the town ofTalbiseh, north of Homs city, according to the Britain-based SyrianObservatory for Human Rights. The mortars came down on Qusair by the dozens, said Abual-Hoda, a Qusair-based activist. He said women and children havebeen huddled for days in basements of apartment buildings, toofearful to come out. On Saturday, 29 people died in violence acrossHoms, according to activists. Also Sunday, Syrian forces unleashed a new round of heavy shellingand sent reinforcements to a mountainous area near the coastal cityof Latakia where hundreds of rebels have set up base and which hasalso been the scene of fierce fighting in recent days. The fighting between government troops backed by helicoptergunships and armed groups in the area of Haffa began on Tuesday.Rami Abdul-Rahman, the director of the Observatory said at least 58soldiers have been killed and more than 200 wounded in theoperation there since. He said the heavy losses indicate the seriousness of the challengein the mountainous area where hundreds of rebels areentrenched. His estimated death toll could not be independentlyverified. State-run news agency SANA said terrorist groups in Haffaattacked public and private institutions on Saturday and committed heinous crimes against civilians, setting fire to the nationalhospital and forcing people to leave their homes. It said troopskilled a number of them and arrested several others, adding it wasstill pursuing gunmen and working to restore security to the area. Six children were among 10 people killed by a shell that explodedin a house where they had taken cover during the fighting in theregion on Saturday, the Observatory said. Thousands have been killed since the Syrian uprising began in Marchlast year and activists put the toll at more than 13,000.International envoy Kofi Annan brokered a ceasefire that went intoeffect on April 12 but has since been violated every day by bothsides of the conflict. Armed rebels have stepped up their attacks on government troopsrecently, taking their fight against President Bashar al-Assad tothe capital Damascus, which on Friday saw some of the most intensefighting since the 15-month uprising began. In northern Syria, thousands took part Sunday in the funeral fornine people who died in reported shelling Saturday night of thetown of Maaret al-Numan in Idlib province. Amateur video posted online by activists Sunday showed a largecrowd taking part in the funeral procession. The victims wereplaced on makeshift stretchers which were carried in the streets aspeople chanted and mourned their death. Meanwhile, Syria s main opposition group in exile, the SyrianNational Council, elected a Kurdish dissident as its new leader ata meeting in Turkey, a council statement said. Abdulbaset Sieda, a 56-year-old activist who has been living formany years in exile in Sweden, was the only candidate to replaceliberal opposition leader Burhan Ghalioun for the three-monthpresidency. He was elected unanimously during an SNC meetingSaturday night in Istanbul that stretched into early hours Sunday. The Paris-based Ghalioun presided over the council since it wascreated last August but recently offered to step down over mountingcriticism of his leadership and repeated renewals of histhree-month term. Several prominent Syrian dissidents have quit thegroup calling it an autocratic organization no better than Mr.al-Assad s authoritarian rule. They also complained the group was dominated by Islamists,including the fundamentalist Muslim Brotherhood. The Syrian opposition has been hobbled by disorganization andinfighting since the popular revolt against Mr. al-Assad began inMarch 2012. Its international backers have repeatedly appealed forthe movement to pull together and work as one unit. The SNC itselfhas been plagued by infighting, hampering efforts by Western andArab nations to help the opposition. Mr. Sieda is a secular member of Syria s minority Kurd community.He is seen as a neutral, consensus figure and has said his prioritywould be to expand the council to include more opposition figures,particularly from Syria s religious minorities. Our first mission is to continue with the restructuring of thecouncil. We will also be working on establishing and strengtheningrelations with the other opposition parties, he said. His elevation to the post of SNC chief could be part of an attemptto appeal to Syria s significant Kurdish minority, which haslargely stayed on the sidelines of the uprising. The community isdeeply suspicious that Sunni Arabs who dominate the opposition willbe no more likely to provide them greater rights than what theyhave had under Mr. al-Assad s regime. He is an academic. He s also well-known, a moderate man. Weshouldn t claim that he has Islamic tendencies or seculartendencies. He has been approved and accepted by everyone, AbdelHamid Al Attassi, a member of the SNC, said of Mr. Sieda. Meanwhile, British Foreign Secretary William Hague says he can'trule out military intervention in Syria, saying the situation thereis beginning to resemble the violence which gripped Bosnia in the1990s. Mr. Hague told Sky News television that time was now clearlyrunning short to implement international envoy Kofi Annan'sceasefire plan in Syria. Asked if his government had ruled out the use of force, Mr. Haguesaid Sunday that the country was on the edge of collapse or of asectarian civil war so I don't think we can rule anything out. He compared the situation in Syria to what happened in Bosnia in1990s, when campaigns of sectarian bloodletting pulled the countryapart resulting in tens of thousands of deaths. More Related to this Story Baird offers help to UN envoy as Syrian conflict reaches 'turningpoint. We are high quality suppliers, our products such as China Powder Coating Machines , Powder Coating Conveyor Line for oversee buyer. To know more, please visits Paint Coating Line.
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