Rebels waging a war of attrition, killing 200 Assad militants in Homs

 National Defense Army, pro-Assad's militia, said 200 fighters were killed since the beginning of the offensive, reliable source told Zaman Alwasl.

Assad's troops fought with rebels in Homs in a battle seen as crucial to the Assad's attempts to drive a wedge between opposition-held areas and establish links between the capital and President Bashar al-Assad's coastal strongholds.

Assad's forces have been on the offensive in the central Syrian city for 15 days, hitting rebel-held neighborhoods with air strikes, mortar bombs and tanks, Reuters reported.

National Defense Army, pro-Assad's militia, said 200 fighters were killed since the beginning of the offensive, reliable source told Zaman Alwasl.

Until now there are no concrete victory, as well as the missiles of FSA keep launching from the besieged neighborhood, the source added.

The Assad media and its backers have been trying to promote a victory and taking control on Homs but Zaman-Alwasl's local source denied what media outlets had revealed about an imminent withdrawal from Homs by the Free Syrian Army.

What 'The Times' British Newspaper and Pro-Iranian satellite, Al-Mayyadeen said, is completely unfounded, the reporter said.

FSA assured that the fighters will not leave Homs. ''Assad entrance to Homs will be only on our bodies'', media activist told Zaman Alwasl.

Homs, 140 km (90 miles) north of Damascus, lies at a strategic crossing linking the capital with army bases in coastal regions controlled by Assad's Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shi'ite Islam that has dominated majority Sunni Syria since the 1960s.

Assad is trying to cement control of this belt of territory, in a move that could drive a wedge between rebel-held areas in the north and south of the country.

 Khalidiya, Bab Hood and the al-Safsafa district were being hit with heavy artillery, mortar bombs and tank fire, resulting in several injuries.

 Video uploaded by an activist group in Homs showed smoke billowing from damaged buildings and the near-constant echo of gunfire and explosions ringing through the narrow streets.

The 13th-century Khalid ibn al-Walid mosque, a prominent central landmark, could be seen in the footage. Like many of Syria's historical treasures, the mosque, with its silver-colored domes, has been badly damaged.

The United Nations has expressed alarm at conditions in Homs, Syria's third largest city, saying last week that between 2,500 and 4,000 civilians were trapped there amid shortages of food, water, medicine, electricity and fuel.

Homs city was the epicenter of protests at the start of the revolt and the armed insurgency. Many districts have fallen in and out of government control during the past two years.