Syrian forces assault rebels in Homs, Raqa

Syrian aircraft attacked rebels in the country’s third largest city of Homs today, the fourth day of an offensive aimed at ending the insurgency in the city. Although the government of President Bashar al-Assad now controls some 80 percent of Homs, several districts remain under rebel control despite an eight-month siege by the army. In the northeast, fighter jets struck the city of Raqa, two days after rebels overran most of the provincial capital.
“The situation really is very bad,” said George Sabra, the President of the opposition Syrian National Council, who was in Rome this week for a meeting on the Arab Spring organized by the Community of Sant'Egidio. “The regime feels it is free to do whatever they want to do in Syria. They send, every day, Scud rockets…to destroy some cities…without any goal except to destroy life.”
Listen to the interview by Salvatore Sabatino with George Sabra: