Homs shelling resumes, UN to send envoy

Homs shelling resumes, UN to send envoy Damascus – Agencies Syria's main opposition body, the Syrian National Council (SNC), has said that military intervention is fast becoming the only solution to the crisis. "We are really close to seeing this military intervention as the only solution. There are two evils, military intervention or protracted civil war," Basma Kodmani, a senior SNC official, told a press conference in Paris according to Reuters.
The SNC will also urge Egypt, at a "Friends of Syria" meeting due to be held in Tunis on Friday, to restrict access to the Suez Canal by any ships carrying weapons to the Syrian regime.
Thirteen civilians were killed as regime forces resumed the shelling of Baba Amr neighbourhood in Homs on Wednesday for the 20th day as the United States appeared to open the door to eventually arming Syria’s opposition. The US seemed to be in tune with the SNC's recent announcement, saying that if a political solution to the crisis was impossible it might have to consider other options.
Two Western journalists were also killed in Homs as they were caught in Wednesday's shelling. The journalists were identified as American Marie Colvin of The Sunday Times and French photographer Remi Ochlik.  Both  were veteran reporters of the world's conflicts.
The two join the list of other Western journalists who have recently died in Syria including New York Times reporter Anthony Shadid,  who died  last week of an asthma attack while covering the conflict, and French journalist Gilles Jacquier who was also killed in Homs.
Rami Al-Said, a citizen journalist who provided live video streams from Homs, was also hit during the shelling of Baba Amr yesterday and died some hours later.
In his last posting on Facebook, Al-Said said:"Baba Amro is being wiped out now, complete genocide, I don't want you to tell us our hearts are with you because I know that, I want projects everywhere inside and outside I want everyone to go out in front of the embassies in al...l countries everywhere because we are soon to be nothing, there will be no more Baba Amr - I expect this is a final letter to you and we will not forgive you."
US State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland said Washington did not want to see the violence increase and was concentrating on political efforts to halt the bloodshed, according to Reuters.
“That said ... if we can't get (President Bashar) Assad to yield to the pressure that we are all bringing to bear, we may have to consider additional measures,” she said, declining to elaborate.
  US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will meet representatives of some 70 countries in Tunis on Friday for the first “Friends of Syria” meeting to coordinate the international community's next steps in response to the uprising.
The United States and its allies hope the conference will allow them to begin drawing up a plan for Syria after Russia and China vetoed a Western-backed Arab League peace plan at the UN Security Council.
With both Russia and Iran firmly backing Assad’s government, political analysts say tacit US support for arming rebel fighters could be risky given Syria's complex ethnic and religious make-up and strategically important position.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon meanwhile is scheduled to meet Arab League Secretary General Nabil Al-Arabi in London on Wednesday to discuss the selection of a special envoy to lead an Arab team to monitor violence in Syria, a UN spokesman said Tuesday.
The appointment of a special envoy is mandated by the UN General Assembly, which last week adopted a resolution condemning the violence in Syria and asking Damascus to implement the Arab League’s plan of action by March 1. The plan called for a transition in Syria to a multi-party political system.
Ban has been in talks with a number of partners over the selection of a special envoy, UN spokesperson Martin Nesirky said. "Conditions in Syria have so far prevented the UN from making an assessment of the situation on the ground," he said.
An SNC delegation is also due to meet Red Cross officials in Geneva on Wednesday.
Since February 11, the Red Crescent and ICRC teams have managed to enter the cities of Homs, Bludan, Al-Zabadani and Madaya to provide humanitarian relief, according to AFP.
Tuesday’s death toll reached 106 people, who were shot dead by Syrian security forces, according to Syrian activists.
Rights groups say more than 6,000 people have been killed during  the regime’s crackdown which began in March last year.
State news agency SANA said government forces were targeting “armed terrorist groups who have been terrifying citizens and attacking security forces and robbing public and private property.”
A Syrian opposition figure who managed to get into Homs meanwhile appealed for international help.
“The sound of bombardment and sniper fire are echoing across the city,” Moulham Al-Jundi, an SNC member, told Reuters from Homs.
“The army prevents first aid or medical supplies from going in and electricity is cut off 15 hours a day. There has been no mobile phone service for three weeks,” said Jundi, who lives in exile in Saudi Arabia and was smuggled into Homs.
“Civilians need safe zones and a way has to be found to ensure that medicines and basic supplies reach Homs. There are no hospitals, no schools, no offices, no government departments open and most shops are shut.”
  The Alawite minority, an offshoot of Shiite Islam, have dominated Sunni majority Syria for the last five decades. Under Assad, who is an Alawite, members of his clan have extended their control on key sectors of the economy, such as oil, telecoms and state procurement.
 After months of  military crackdown, armed opposition to Assad has emerged along with street demonstrations, especially in the suburbs of Damascus, and the provinces of Homs and Aleppo.
 On Tuesday, dozens participated in a rally in Damascus to protest against  Article No 3 of the new draft constitution stating that the President of the country should be Muslim.