Turkey and Norway closed their embassies in Syria on Monday, further isolating President Bashar al-Assad whose forces bombarded the battered city of Homs with mortars in an effort to quell unrest. Video showed towering flames and thick black smoke billowing from at least two locations in Homs, Syria's third largest city, which has become the epicentre for the year-long revolt. Residents accused the army of indiscriminate shelling.
"Every day the shelling goes on. The regime is wiping out the city," said Waleed Faris, an activist who lives in Homs. Sixteen people died in clashes around the country, the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said, with eight dying in the central city of Homs, a rebel stronghold that has become the epicentre of the year-long uprising.
Two of the dead were children, the group said. Syria has formally responded to a peace plan put forward by UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan, his office said on Monday, but gave no details about the message. "Mr. Annan is studying it and will respond very shortly," his spokesman Ahmad Fawzi said in a statement from Geneva.
Following the example of many Arab and Western states, Turkey said it had suspended all activities at its embassy as the security situation worsened. Norway also announced it was closing its embassy. Once a close ally of Assad, Turkey has denounced his efforts to crush the rebellion and has thrown its weight behind his opponents, announcing on Sunday that it would work with Washington to provide "non-lethal" aid to the Syrian opposition. Annan, who presented Damascus with his peace proposals earlier this month, said on Monday the crisis could not carry on forever, but added that he had not set any deadline for a resolution of the conflict.
"It is not practical to put forth timetables and timelines when you haven't got agreement from the parties," Annan told journalists in Moscow, where he met on Sunday with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev. "This cannot be allowed to drag on indefinitely and, as I have told the parties on the ground, they cannot resist the transformational winds that are blowing," he added before flying off for top level meetings in China on Tuesday.
FIGHTING NEAR TURKISH BORDER Syria says it is battling foreign-backed terrorist groups and the official news agency Sana reported on Monday that troops had foiled an attempt by a group of armed infiltrators trying to enter across the Turkish border near the village of Darkoush. It said an unknown number were killed and injured. Activists said two Algerian men with British nationality came under fire in the area; one was killed and another injured. There were conflicting reports on whether they were journalists or if they had joined the rebel fighters.