Opposition: Syria blows up Homs oil pipeline

CNN reporter hiding in Syrian safe house

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• NEW: The Syrian government blames a "terrorist group" for the oil pipeline explosion
• NEW: At least four people are killed in Syria on Wednesday, an opposition group says
• Opposition activists say Hama is under siege, and communications have been cut off
• A U.N. draft resolution condemning Syria could go for a vote on Wednesday

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Homs, Syria (CNN) -- A massive plume of thick, black smoke billowed from the Syrian city of Homs on Wednesday, punctuating the chaos that has plagued the opposition stronghold for months.

According to the Local Coordination Committees of Syria, an opposition activist group, government war planes flew over Homs and blew up an oil pipeline.

But Syrian state-run TV blamed a "terrorist group" for the assault.

Under the opaque cloud of smoke, sounds of sustained attacks -- including artillery fire and automatic machine gunfire -- echoed through the city of 1 million people, said CNN's Arwa Damon, reporting from inside Homs on Wednesday.

Opposition activists say government forces are set on flattening every neighborhood that might hold dissidents calling for the ouster of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

But reports of fresh violence weren't limited to Homs.

Three bodies were recovered from Idlib province Wednesday, and one person was killed in Aleppo, the opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

And explosions rattled two neighborhoods in Hama, a city stormed by military forces Wednesday morning, the observatory said. It said landlines, cell phone communication and Internet access in Hama were cut off.

Meanwhile, after repeated U.N. failures to formally denounce the Syrian regime, the latest U.N. draft resolution condemning Syria could go for a vote in the General Assembly as early as Wednesday.

Though a General Assembly vote would not be binding, it would mark the strongest U.N. statement yet on the violence. Russia and China have vetoed attempts to condemn Syria for the crackdown by the U.N. Security Council, whose resolutions are binding.

The draft resolution calls on Syria to end human-rights violations and attacks against civilians immediately, and condemns "all violence, irrespective of where it comes from."

But any U.N. action is long overdue, say opposition activists, who reported 49 deaths across Syria on Tuesday. The dead included three defected soldiers, the LCC said.

Deaths took place in Idlib, Homs, Daraa, Aleppo, Deir Ezzor, Hama, Damascus, the Damascus suburbs and Latakia, the group said.

Navi Pillay, the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, said most of the wounded avoid going to public hospitals for fear of being arrested or tortured. Instead, they are being treated in underground hospitals where hygiene and sterilization conditions are rudimentary and medical supplies are scarce, she said.

Pillay denounced the Syrian government's "ongoing onslaught" against its citizens.

"The nature and scale of abuses committed by Syrian forces indicates that crimes against humanity are likely to have been committed since March 2011," Pillay said.

Syria posted a banner on state TV Tuesday saying its foreign affairs ministry "absolutely rejects all the new allegations in the new report by the human rights high commissioner."

The Syrian regime has consistently blamed "armed terrorist groups" for the violence in Syria. The state-run Syrian Arab News Agency said 13 "army and law enforcement martyrs" were buried Tuesday.

CNN cannot independently confirm details of events across Syria because the government has severely limited the access of international journalists.

But the vast majority of accounts from within the country indicate al-Assad's forces are slaughtering civilians en masse, part of a brutal crackdown on protesters calling for democratic reforms.

Pillay has said at least 5,400 people have been killed in the Syrian conflict, but said it is difficult to update that number due to the turmoil on the ground. The LCC has said well over 7,000 people have been killed.

European Union diplomats said they expect new EU sanctions on Syria by February 27, targeting the Syrian Central Bank and imposing a ban on exports of precious metals and phosphates.

Victoria Nuland, a U.S. State Department spokeswoman, said Tuesday that increasing pressure and sanctions on al-Assad's government was crucial.

French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe announced a national decision to establish an emergency relief fund for Syria, according to a statement posted on the website of the permanent mission of France to the U.N. The fund, with an initial sum of 1 million euros, will "fund the actions of all organizations and associations wishing to help the Syrian people."

France will propose the creation of a similar fund at the international level at the first "Friends of Syria" meeting in Tunis on February 24, the statement said.

CNN's Hamdi Alkhshali, Nada Husseini, Mick Krever, Richard Roth, Nick Paton Walsh, Elise Labott and Holly Yan contributed to this report.

Source: http://www.cnn.com/2012/02/15/world/meast/syria-unrest/index.html?eref=rss_mostpopular

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