| More than 200 people were reported to have been killed yesterday in the Syrian city of Homs as security forces continued their efforts to take back opposition-held areas on the eve of a vote by the UN security council on a much-disputed resolution on the country. Hundreds more were killed in shelling of the city, according to the the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which cited witnesses. Rami Abdulrahman, the head of the campaign group, said that women and children were among 217 people killed, many of them in the Khalidya district of the city. "Syrian forces are shelling the district with mortars from several locations, some buildings are on fire. There are also buildings which got destroyed," Abdulrahman told Reuters. The UN Security Council is expected to meet on Saturday morning to vote on a European-Arab draft resolution endorsing an Arab League plan calling for Syria's president, Bashar al-Assad, to give up power, council members announced. Britain's UN mission announced on Twitter that the meeting would take place at 9am, although diplomats told Reuters that it was unclear if Russia, which has opposed significant council action on Syria since an uprising started there 11 months ago, would vote in favour of, abstain from or veto the resolution. Russia, which threatened on Thursday to veto the text, had promised to submit suggestions for revising the draft on Friday. Diplomats said the drafters had received no proposals from the Russian delegation ... |
