Final push of Homs is coming?

[hellheaven1987]

The Syrian army is advancing on opposition positions in Homs, which has been under artillery bombardment for nearly a month, reports say.

Security officials in Damascus said the besieged district of Baba Amr would be "cleaned" within the next few hours.

Residents of Homs have long said they believe a ground assault is imminent, but the scale of the operation remains unclear.

It comes amid reports of a new draft UN resolution on the crisis.

The draft, which is still in its early stages, focuses on humanitarian aid for Syria, in the hope both China and Russia, which have opposed previous votes, will back it.

Although diplomats said the move was in the early stage, China said it supported "creating conditions" for humanitarian aid to be sent.

A UN meeting on Tuesday was told more than 7,500 had died in the 11 months of protest against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Source

It seems Syrian force is finally trying to push into Homs with infantries and the fall of Homs is quite clear. So what is next after the fall of Homs? What would Assad do after a clear hostile target is removed?

[The_Valiant]

Well, I'm sure there will be massive civilian casualties, which will spark outrage in the international community (with the exception of China and Russia). The Red Cross will attempt to enter the city, as will Arab League observers, but they will probably be blocked. After a bloody fall of Homs, I'm certain that NATO will probably take some sort of military action on the Assad regime - probably a no-fly zone (which will be harder than in Libya due to Syria's depth and air-defense systems) and maybe some special ops action on key targets - all in addition to arming the rebels.

As for Assad, he will continue to attack mercilessly his opposition.

[hellheaven1987]

After a bloody fall of Homs, I'm certain that NATO will probably take some sort of military action on the Assad regime - probably a no-fly zone (which will be harder than in Libya due to Syria's depth and air-defense systems) and maybe some special ops action on key targets - all in addition to arming the rebels.

EU has more urgent thing in homefront that need to deal with (Manuel you know what I mean here ), no additional resource to play around in Middle East now.

[The_Valiant]

EU has more urgent thing in homefront that need to deal with (Manuel you know what I mean here ), no additional resource to play around in Middle East now.

You could have said the same about Libya last year.

[Manuel I Komnenos]

Time is running against him, so it's a most expected development.

[6644kp]

Time is running against him, so it's a most expected development.

TBH right now it looks like Bashar is winning. Most of the country has been pasified except for occasional violence. The real resistance is in Hama and Homs and the Syrian army has been shelling and besieging the rebel held areas of those cities and soon they will launch an offensive to capture those areas.

I dont really see how the rebels can win and I am not aware of any other cities that have fully risen up against Bashar and where the rebels are still active. There is alot of opposition against the Syrian government but cities like Aleppo, Idlib and Daraa have been retaken there is still some smaller rebel hold areas in Rif Dimashq and the Turkish border areas but overall its looking pretty good for Bashar al Assad.

Without a No Fly Zone the likes of Libya things are indeed dire for the Syrian rebels.

[The_Valiant]

TBH right now it looks like Bashar is winning. Most of the country has been pasified except for occasional violence. The real resistance is in Hama and Homs and the Syrian army has been shelling and besieging the rebel held areas of those cities and soon they will launch an offensive to capture those areas.

I dont really see how the rebels can win and I am not aware of any other cities that have fully risen up against Bashar and where the rebels are still active. There is alot of opposition against the Syrian government but cities like Aleppo, Idlib and Daraa have been retaken there is still some smaller rebel hold areas in Rif Dimashq and the Turkish border areas but overall its looking pretty good for Bashar al Assad.

Without a No Fly Zone the likes of Libya things are indeed dire for the Syrian rebels.

Agreed.

[Oklop]

Without a No Fly Zone the likes of Libya things are indeed dire for the Syrian rebels.

Well, to be honest that was not exactly no-fly zone.

More like, "send air power to bomb Qaddafi positions and support rebel advances while allowing only rebel planes to fly" - zone.

But I agree with you. Without foreign intervention the rebels will be most likely crushed. Who knows what terror will the rebellious areas experience afterward.

[Manuel I Komnenos]

TBH right now it looks like Bashar is winning. Most of the country has been pasified except for occasional violence. The real resistance is in Hama and Homs and the Syrian army has been shelling and besieging the rebel held areas of those cities and soon they will launch an offensive to capture those areas.

I dont really see how the rebels can win and I am not aware of any other cities that have fully risen up against Bashar and where the rebels are still active. There is alot of opposition against the Syrian government but cities like Aleppo, Idlib and Daraa have been retaken there is still some smaller rebel hold areas in Rif Dimashq and the Turkish border areas but overall its looking pretty good for Bashar al Assad.

Without a No Fly Zone the likes of Libya things are indeed dire for the Syrian rebels.

I've heard rumors about S-300 batteries being stationed in Syria. A no fly zone would be impossible if the Syrians are getting active Russian help.

[hellheaven1987]

Be honest I have a mixed feeling about this whole Syrian uprising - on one hand I enjoy to see people suffer from their naive attempt of revolution, yet on the other hand I also hope the revolution would be successed and create a bigger chaotic situation in Middle East (which I also enjoy to watch)...

[Babur]

on one hand I enjoy to see people suffer from their naive attempt of revolution

I see why China and Russia support Assad....

[6644kp]

Be honest I have a mixed feeling about this whole Syrian uprising - on one hand I enjoy to see people suffer from their naive attempt of revolution, yet on the other hand I also hope the revolution would be successed and create a bigger chaotic situation in Middle East (which I also enjoy to watch)...

This sort of view makes me wish the uprising will be crushed sooner than later not because im a fan of Assad's rule but because I think too much blood has been shed already and the way things are going right now with no foreign intervention the rebels are going to loose sooner or later.

Its also puts foreign intervention at question since I dont want the conflict to escalate and engulf ever more countries i.e. Hezbollah in Lebanon and Iran.

[magpie]

Hmm, The Syrian Government under Assad, Have to wrap this up quickly if they are to have any chance of survival.
Rumour on RT is that NATO through its Turkish arm will begin air-strikes in early March bypassing the U.N.

[hellheaven1987]

Rumour on RT is that NATO through its Turkish arm will begin air-strikes in early March bypassing the U.N.

That depends whether Turkey would agree it or not though, and Assad may respond by supporting Kurdish insurgency inside Turkey.

[Heathen Hammer]

Hmm, The Syrian Government under Assad, Have to wrap this up quickly if they are to have any chance of survival.
Rumour on RT is that NATO through its Turkish arm will begin air-strikes in early March bypassing the U.N.

Which will give Russia and China not only a precedent to to do same thing to regimes that are inconvenient for them, but also provide them with an opportunity to provide even more equipment for Syrians. Problem in Libya was that nobody helped Libyans with anti-air equipment. Hopefully, Russia and China will sell it to Syria to the extent that NATo won't intervene if they'd risk heavy casualties..

[Torment]

Which will give Russia and China not only a precedent to to do same thing to regimes that are inconvenient for them, but also provide them with an opportunity to provide even more equipment for Syrians. Problem in Libya was that nobody helped Libyans with anti-air equipment. Hopefully, Russia and China will sell it to Syria to the extent that NATo won't intervene if they'd risk heavy casualties..

Yeah, allow thousands of innocents to be bombed to death by its own government, as long as Russia can demonstrate it's still the same bully it always was. What a charming attitude.

[Heathen Hammer]

Yeah, allow thousands of innocents to be bombed to death by its own government, as long as Russia can demonstrate it's still the same bully it always was. What a charming attitude.

And allowing them to be bombed by NATO and than harassed by FSA so long as NATO can demonstrate it's still the same bully as it always was is better how? Its all about the conflict of geopolitical interests, but NATO has too much influence and it would be better if wold would be multi-polar as opposed to US/NATO dominating it.

[Torment]

And allowing them to be bombed by NATO and than harassed by FSA so long as NATO can demonstrate it's still the same bully as it always was is better how? Its all about the conflict of geopolitical interests, but NATO has too much influence and it would be better if wold would be multi-polar as opposed to US/NATO dominating it.

Precisely. all those civilians dying, just for the sake of being contrarian. I'd say the polar opposite, NATO has too little influence. Else we could just ignore maffia-controlled, egotistical countries like Russia and China and bomb every mass-murdering tyrant into the ground.

[hellheaven1987]

Yeah, allow thousands of innocents to be bombed to death by its own government, as long as Russia can demonstrate it's still the same bully it always was. What a charming attitude.

Blame FSA is a coward that hide behind civilians then.

[Vanoi]

Blame FSA is a coward that hide behind civilians then.

Got any proof? Because i doubt there were any rebels in the hospital where Marie Colvin was killed by Syrian shelling.