AMMAN At least 35 people have been killed in a renewed Syrianarmy effort to regain control of the province of Homs, epicentre ofthe revolt against President Bashar al-Assad, opposition activistssaid on Sunday. The army bombarded opposition strongholds in the city of Homs andthe towns of Qusair, Talbiseh and Rastan. Free Syrian Army rebelshad been intensifying attacks on army patrols, roadblocks andmissile batteries in the area, the Syrian Network for Human Rightsand other opposition campaigners said. Abu Qassem, an activist in Rastan, 25 km north of Homs, said atleast 500 rockets and shells had fallen on the town since Saturday,and army helicopters were firing machineguns into the area. The Free Syrian Army is far outgunned, but it is responding bymounting guerrilla attacks while trying to avoid direct exchange offire, he said. He said among the rebels targets had been an army missile batteryin the area of Ghanto near Rastan. Most members of the missilesquadron defected and the battery fell under rebel control. Rastan was once a reservoir of Sunni Muslim recruits for themilitary, whose senior ranks are dominated by members of Assad sminority Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shi ite Islam. After Syria s revolt broke out in March last year andpro-democracy demonstrators in Rastan were killed, Sunni officersfrom the town began defecting. Talbiseh to the south came under shelling and heavy mortar firefrom loyalist troops after some soldiers from surroundingroadblocks defected on Saturday and drove two armoured personnelcarriers into the town, according to opposition sources there. Five people have been killed, including a woman and herone-year-old daughter. They were among the few civilians who hadnot fled Talbiseh, activist Abu Mohammad said by satellite phone. In Homs, the army shelling was concentrated on the neighbourhood ofal Khalidiya, inhabited mostly by Sunni tribal families from thedesert to the southeast of Homs, activists said. REUTERS. The e-commerce company in China offers quality products such as China Barrier Terminal Block , PCB Terminal Block, and more. For more , please visit PCB Terminal Block today!
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