Syrian jets hit rebel-held areas of Homs, Deraa

BEIRUT: Syrian warplanes bombarded a besieged rebel-held district of Homs on Saturday, killing at least two people and raising the death toll from nearly two weeks of air strikes there to more than 20, an activist and monitoring group said.

Warplanes also hit insurgent-controlled areas in Deraa in southern Syria during a series of heavy raids over the last day, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said.

For months, Al-Waer, the last rebel-held neighbourhood in the western city of Homs, had been spared much of the intense violence raging elsewhere in the country, as the government tried to conclude an agreement with insurgents there.

Bombardment of the area resumed earlier this month, rescue workers and the British-based Observatory said.

The Observatory said three people were killed on Saturday, bringing the death toll since then to at least 30 people.

An opposition media activist in al-Waer said two people had been killed and put February’s overall death toll at more than 20.A military media unit run by Damascus ally Hizbullah said warplanes and artillery had targeted insurgents in al-Waer after rebel sniper fire hit areas neighbouring the district.

Damascus has tried to conclude a deal in al-Waer that would see rebel fighters and their families leave the district and the government take over.

Under similar agreements elsewhere in western Syria, rebels have left with light weapons and headed mostly for Idlib province.

The opposition says such accords are part of a government strategy to forcibly displace populations from opposition-held areas after years of siege and bombardment.

In September, some 120 rebel fighters and their families left al-Waer in agreement with the government, but there have been no further reports of insurgents leaving.  The Observatory estimates several thousand rebels remain there.