Assad forces make gains in Homs

Assad forces backed by Hezbollah militia now control half of the Khaldiyeh district of Homs after ousting rebels in fierce fighting in the central Syrian city, a watchdog said on Saturday.

''The situation is getting extremely bad. No support to the Free Syrian Army inside the city. They might break down at any point,'' Activist said   to Zaman Alwasl.

Pro-Assad militias threatened to exhume and desecrate the tomb of Khalid Bin Al Waleed, Prophet Muhammad companion, activist added.

FSA Battalions in the Northern countryside of Homs didn't support the rebels in Khaldiyah and other besieged neighborhood in the old city of Homs, Zaman Alwasl reporter said. ''Even some of these battalions held a truce with the Assad forces like 'al-Iman brigade.''

 The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that Loyalist forces backed by fighters from Hezbollah have advanced over the last 24 hours and now control 50 percent of Khaldiyeh.

Its chief Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP on Saturday that overnight, “there was continuous heavy mortar and artillery fire” and that the rebel district was still being pounded.

He said rebels were putting up “fierce resistance” amid “very intense clashes”.

Militant network the Syrian Revolution General Commission also reported heavy fighting in the district that has been besieged by regime forces for more than a year.

“Khaldiyeh is being targeted by an uninterrupted heavy bombardment, and on the ground there is fierce fighting between Free Syrian Army fighters and regime forces backed by Lebanon’s Hezbollah trying to take the district,” an SRGC statement said.

It and the Observatory both said the Old City district of Homs — dubbed the “capital of the revolution” against President Bashar al-Assad — was being pummelled too.

The latest regime offensive on besieged rebel-held neighborhoods of Homs is now in its fourth week.

Assad forces are seeking to secure another victory like the one in Qusayr near the border with Lebanon in June, when Hezbollah was a key in retaking the strategic town.

Hezbollah, the most powerful military force in Lebanon and a staunch ally of the Assad regime in Syria, has had its military wing blacklisted by the European Union as a terrorist group.

More than 100,000 people have been killed since the Syria crisis started in March 2011, and four million have been internally displaced, while nearly two million have fled to neighboring countries, according to the United Nations, as largely peaceful protests against Assad's rule. It escalated into a civil war after opposition supporters took up arms to fight a brutal government crackdown on dissent.