New Syria assault as diplomats meet

Syrian government troops shelled rebel-held central areas today, killing at least four people, activists said, as the US, Europe and Arab nations met in Tunisia to seek ways to ease the crisis.

Four people died in the renewed shelling of the Baba Amr neighbourhood of Homs, activists said, the latest of hundreds killed there in recent weeks. The neighbourhood, under siege and intense shelling for three weeks, has become the centre of the revolt.

The British-based Observatory for Human Rights said troops were also attempting to storm Rastan, a besieged rebel-held town just north of Homs. A spokesman said the town was being shelled and reported heavy clashes between troops and army defectors who destroyed two armoured personnel carriers.

Amateur videos posted on the internet by activists showed black smoke rising from residential areas of Baba Amr and debris littering its apartment blocks.

Parts of Homs, Syria’s third-largest city, have been under a fierce government attack for nearly three weeks.

Meanwhile, more than 70 countries are at the Friends of Syria meeting, which is expected to press president Bashar Assad to agree to a ceasefire and allow for humanitarian aid to reach the areas that have been hardest-hit by his security forces.

In the run-up to the conference, American, European and Arab officials said the group was likely to impose harsher sanctions if Assad rejects the ceasefire and predicted that his opponents would grow stronger if he remained in power.

In an effort to bring an end to the violence, the UN announced that former secretary general Kofi Annan will be the joint UN-Arab League envoy to deal with the crisis.

In a statement, Mr Annan said he would try to “help bring an end to the violence and human rights abuses, and promote a peaceful solution” in Syria. He expressed hope the Syrian government and opposition groups would co-operate with him in his efforts.

The Tunisia meeting is the latest international effort to end the crisis, which began when protesters, inspired by the Arab Spring uprisings elsewhere, took to the streets in some of Syria’s impoverished provinces nearly a year ago to call for political change.

Since then, Assad’s security forces have violently repressed the uprising, blaming it on Islamic extremists and armed gangs, while members of the originally peaceful opposition have taken up arms.

The UN estimated in January that 5,400 people had been killed in the conflict in 2011. Hundreds more have died since. Syrian activists say the death toll is more than 7,300. Overall figures cannot be independently confirmed because Syria has prevented most media from operating inside the country.

Also today, UN-appointed investigators in Geneva said they had complied a list of Syrian officials accused of crimes against humanity in the crackdown. The list reaches as high as Assad.