If there was ever any doubt that President Bashar Al Assad would not be deterred from crushing anti-government protesters in Syria through brutal and violent means, simply look at the latest sad reports to emerge from the besieged city of Homs. According to a member of the advance Arab League delegation sent to Syria to monitor the situation, government forces are committing acts of "annihilation" against the residents of the city. It's hard to argue with the use of the word "annihilation" when military and security forces are pounding the city with artillery and mortars — weapons of absolute carnage against a civilian population without adequate shelter or defence mechanisms.
Indeed, Syrian activists claim that one Egyptian monitor, Mustashar Mahjoub, was injured in the indiscriminate shelling on the Baba Amr neighbourhood. He has refused to say how he was wounded but says he witnessed shelling. According to reports, four observers managed to slip away from their hotel and away from the watchful eyes of Syrian officials to see Homs for themselves. Clearly, if the Arab League initiative to have observers in Syria is to work and have substance, those observers need to be able to travel freely, unhindered by security officials, unimpaired by Syrian government minders.
At least 25 people were reported killed during the shelling ahead of the official visit by the observers to the city. Amateur video from Homs showed three Syrian tanks in the streets, with one firing its machine gun, another launching mortar rounds.
Given the violence has continued unabated even with the Arab League observers in Damascus, there is little wonder that Syrian opposition groups are saying the initiative is meaningless, doubting that the Arab League has the power to remove Al Assad. They are urging for greater intervention by the Security Council.
The killings have to stop, one way or another.
