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| Syrian Forces Advance in Homs, Reports Say | Syrian Forces Advance in Homs, Reports Say |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| BEIRUT, Lebanon — As President Bashar al-Assad of Syria sought to convey the impression of a leader in control after consecutive days of suspected insurgent bombings in his power base, Damascus, his forces were reported on Thursday to have launched a sustained push farther north to crush resistance in the city of Homs. | BEIRUT, Lebanon — As President Bashar al-Assad of Syria sought to convey the impression of a leader in control after consecutive days of suspected insurgent bombings in his power base, Damascus, his forces were reported on Thursday to have launched a sustained push farther north to crush resistance in the city of Homs. |
| Fighting was also reported for the first time in months near the coastal city of Baniyas. | Fighting was also reported for the first time in months near the coastal city of Baniyas. |
| A day after Mr. Assad made a rare public appearance on Wednesday, visiting workers at an electric station, opposition activists said the government campaign seemed designed to eject rebel fighters from Homs, part of a series of fierce offensives to retake territory controlled by rebels in both Homs and Damascus, the capital. | A day after Mr. Assad made a rare public appearance on Wednesday, visiting workers at an electric station, opposition activists said the government campaign seemed designed to eject rebel fighters from Homs, part of a series of fierce offensives to retake territory controlled by rebels in both Homs and Damascus, the capital. |
| The opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which is based in Britain and draws its information from activists in Syria, said loyalist forces on Thursday had regained control of the strategically placed Wadi Sayeh district in the center of Homs. | The opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which is based in Britain and draws its information from activists in Syria, said loyalist forces on Thursday had regained control of the strategically placed Wadi Sayeh district in the center of Homs. |
| The official SANA news agency on Thursday listed several areas further north in the Aleppo and Idlib areas where it said government forces had moved against insurgents, but it did not refer directly to a major operation under way in Homs, other than to say that loyalists “destroyed an explosive devices warehouse and killed and injured” an unspecified number of rebels there. | |
| The insurgents have controlled parts of Homs, Syria’s third biggest city, for more than a year. The fighting in there has ranked among the bloodiest since the conflict began about two years ago. The United Nations estimates that more than 70,000 people have been killed. | |
| The reported advance in the center of the city came after days of clashes on the outskirts of Damascus and three successive days of explosions in some of the capital’s best-guarded neighborhoods. Opposition activists also reported intense fighting in a neighborhood of the port of Baniyas, on the Mediterranean coast, for the first time since government troops stormed southern areas of the city in May 2011. | The reported advance in the center of the city came after days of clashes on the outskirts of Damascus and three successive days of explosions in some of the capital’s best-guarded neighborhoods. Opposition activists also reported intense fighting in a neighborhood of the port of Baniyas, on the Mediterranean coast, for the first time since government troops stormed southern areas of the city in May 2011. |
| The fighting there has been depicted as overwhelmingly sectarian, directed at Syria’s majority Sunni Muslims by representatives of the Alawite minority, an offshoot of Shiite Islam that has provided the bedrock of the Assad dynasty’s power base for four decades. | The fighting there has been depicted as overwhelmingly sectarian, directed at Syria’s majority Sunni Muslims by representatives of the Alawite minority, an offshoot of Shiite Islam that has provided the bedrock of the Assad dynasty’s power base for four decades. |
| According to the Syrian Observatory, revolt in the city dates to the same day in March 2011 that protests first broke out in the southern city of Dara’a. Three weeks later, in April 2011, pro-government militias launched “the first sectarian attack” on a Sunni mosque in the south of the city, the Observatory said. | According to the Syrian Observatory, revolt in the city dates to the same day in March 2011 that protests first broke out in the southern city of Dara’a. Three weeks later, in April 2011, pro-government militias launched “the first sectarian attack” on a Sunni mosque in the south of the city, the Observatory said. |
| Baniyas lies just north of Tartus, where Russia maintains a small naval base. | Baniyas lies just north of Tartus, where Russia maintains a small naval base. |
| On Wednesday, Syrian state television and the SANA news agency said that Mr. Assad had mingled with workers at the Umayyad Electrical Station and had congratulated them on the occasion of international Labor Day. Photographs depicted Mr. Assad dressed in a dark suit as workers showed him the station. | |
| “They want us to be afraid,” Mr. Assad said in one television clip. “Well, we won’t be afraid.” As he spoke, loyalists in the background chanted, “May God protect you.” | “They want us to be afraid,” Mr. Assad said in one television clip. “Well, we won’t be afraid.” As he spoke, loyalists in the background chanted, “May God protect you.” |
| Mr. Assad is not often seen outside the heavily guarded presidential palace these days. His appearance followed an assassination attempt in the form of a car bombing on Monday aimed at his prime minister and a bombing on Tuesday that killed at least 13 people outside a former Interior Ministry building. | Mr. Assad is not often seen outside the heavily guarded presidential palace these days. His appearance followed an assassination attempt in the form of a car bombing on Monday aimed at his prime minister and a bombing on Tuesday that killed at least 13 people outside a former Interior Ministry building. |
| His visit to the power station coincided with a new set of explosions in central Damascus. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that rockets had hit the neighborhood of Bab Mesalla, an area of shops and a transportation hub, and that a bomb had detonated near the police headquarters on nearby Khalid bin Walid Street, a site of previous bomb attacks. | His visit to the power station coincided with a new set of explosions in central Damascus. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that rockets had hit the neighborhood of Bab Mesalla, an area of shops and a transportation hub, and that a bomb had detonated near the police headquarters on nearby Khalid bin Walid Street, a site of previous bomb attacks. |
| SANA later confirmed the attacks, saying at least two people had been killed and 28 had been wounded. It attributed the attacks to terrorists, the Assad government’s blanket description for armed opponents. | SANA later confirmed the attacks, saying at least two people had been killed and 28 had been wounded. It attributed the attacks to terrorists, the Assad government’s blanket description for armed opponents. |
| The National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces, the main anti-Assad political organization, said in a statement on Wednesday that it condemned such indiscriminate attacks and that the “the bombing of civilian areas is unacceptable, regardless of the circumstances.” But the organization also implied that Mr. Assad’s government had ordered the attacks to smear its enemies, asserting that “such bombings have become a trademark of the regime.” | The National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces, the main anti-Assad political organization, said in a statement on Wednesday that it condemned such indiscriminate attacks and that the “the bombing of civilian areas is unacceptable, regardless of the circumstances.” But the organization also implied that Mr. Assad’s government had ordered the attacks to smear its enemies, asserting that “such bombings have become a trademark of the regime.” |
| Evidence that Mr. Assad has used some of his military’s stockpile of chemical munitions in the conflict has raised the prospect of an American military intervention in the conflict because President Obama has called the use of such weapons a “red line.” While Mr. Obama has said that the evidence is incomplete and that more verifiable facts are required, he is considering providing lethal military aid to the insurgency, administration officials in Washington said on Tuesday. | Evidence that Mr. Assad has used some of his military’s stockpile of chemical munitions in the conflict has raised the prospect of an American military intervention in the conflict because President Obama has called the use of such weapons a “red line.” While Mr. Obama has said that the evidence is incomplete and that more verifiable facts are required, he is considering providing lethal military aid to the insurgency, administration officials in Washington said on Tuesday. |
| Britain, France and Israel have accused the Syrian authorities of using chemical munitions in the civil war, and a forensics panel authorized by the United Nations has been waiting to enter Syria to conduct tests. The Syrian government has accused insurgents of deploying chemical weapons outside Aleppo on March 19, but it has blocked the United Nations panel because of a dispute about the scope of its inquiry. | Britain, France and Israel have accused the Syrian authorities of using chemical munitions in the civil war, and a forensics panel authorized by the United Nations has been waiting to enter Syria to conduct tests. The Syrian government has accused insurgents of deploying chemical weapons outside Aleppo on March 19, but it has blocked the United Nations panel because of a dispute about the scope of its inquiry. |
| On Wednesday, officials in Turkey said they were testing blood samples taken from Syrians who had been transported over the border in recent days suffering breathing difficulties, to determine whether chemical weapons had been used on them. Reuters quoted the mayor of Reyhanli, a Turkish town where the Syrians were hospitalized, next to the Bab al-Hawa border crossing, as saying, “There is a possibility that the weapons were used, and we have to act with caution in case.” There was no further word on the condition of the hospitalized Syrians, who were all from northern Syria, Reuters said. | On Wednesday, officials in Turkey said they were testing blood samples taken from Syrians who had been transported over the border in recent days suffering breathing difficulties, to determine whether chemical weapons had been used on them. Reuters quoted the mayor of Reyhanli, a Turkish town where the Syrians were hospitalized, next to the Bab al-Hawa border crossing, as saying, “There is a possibility that the weapons were used, and we have to act with caution in case.” There was no further word on the condition of the hospitalized Syrians, who were all from northern Syria, Reuters said. |
| SANA, the official news agency, sought to counter the accusation that Syrian forces used chemical weapons, accusing insurgents of throwing an “unknown powder” in the faces of civilians in the northern Idlib area, provoking respiratory problems and shivering. The rebels “then took the injured citizens to Turkish hospitals to accuse the Syrian armed forces of using chemical weapons,” SANA said. | SANA, the official news agency, sought to counter the accusation that Syrian forces used chemical weapons, accusing insurgents of throwing an “unknown powder” in the faces of civilians in the northern Idlib area, provoking respiratory problems and shivering. The rebels “then took the injured citizens to Turkish hospitals to accuse the Syrian armed forces of using chemical weapons,” SANA said. |
Hwaida Saad reported from Beirut, Rick Gladstone from New York, and Alan Cowell from Paris. Hania Mourtada contributed reporting from Beirut. | Hwaida Saad reported from Beirut, Rick Gladstone from New York, and Alan Cowell from Paris. Hania Mourtada contributed reporting from Beirut. |