Violence claims journalists

Two Western journalists were yesterday Wednesday in the Syrian city of Homs amid heavy shelling from government forces, opposition activists said.

The Sunday Times of London said one of the journalists reportedly killed was staffer Marie Colvin - the only British newspaper journalist inside the embattled Homs neighborhood of Baba Amr. And French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe confirmed journalist Remi Ochlik was killed in a bombing. He was 28.

Colvin was on air with CNN on Tuesday night, recalling how she watched a young boy die after his house was struck by shelling. Colvin, who had reported from many conflicts including last year's Libyan civil war, said Syria was the worst conflict she had covered, partly because of the sheer amount of ordinance falling on Homs. "There's a lot of snipers on the high builds surrounding the neighbourhood. I can sort of figure out where a sniper is but you can't figure out where a shell is going to land," she said.

While violence erupting once again across the country yesterday, Syrians pleading for help in stopping a government-led slaughter might have fresh hope, as the United States called for more international action and hinted that arming the opposition isn't out of the question. In Washington, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said the conflict under Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime demands reaction.

"We believe that we are in a situation where we -- the international community -- needs to act in order to allow for the transition from Assad to a more democratic future for Syria to take place before the situation becomes too chaotic," Carney told reporters Tuesday.

While foreign officials spoke, Syrian government forces pounded the embattled city of Homs for the 18th consecutive day and tormented residents in several other cities, opposition activists said. About 9,000 people have been killed - including 106 just Tuesday - since the government crackdown began almost one year ago, according to the opposition Local Coordination Committies of Syria.

The Revolutionary Council of Homs said shelling blasted through homes in the city's Baba Amr neighborhood, but "the number of those injured could not be estimated because of the nonstop bombing," it said. "This attack carried out by the Assad forces can be considered a real genocide, and all this is happening amid an electricity, water, and communication services outage, accompanied by the unavailability of food, baby formula and medicine. In this manner, even those who may survive the bombing, end up dying due to hunger or lack of medical care," the group said.

But the state-run Syrian Arab News Agency reported Tuesday that "food and services are available in Homs," and said "provocative channels are fabricating lies" to the contrary.

click to enlarge UNREST: In this Tuesday, February 21, 2012 citizen journalism image provided by the Local Coordination Committees in Syria black smoke rises into the air from Syrian government shelling, at Baba Amr neighborhood in Homs province, Syria. (Insert) Marie Colvin who was killed in the latest spate of violence. © AP

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