Syria rebels on the offensive for Homs

 Free Syrian Army fighters stand by their weapons in the besieged area of Homs.AFP/AmmanSyria rebels staged a surprise dawn attack yesterday against the key district of Baba Amr in the central city of Homs, a year after regime forces retook it after a deadly month-long siege. Activists said the assault aimed to ease pressure on other districts in Homs where the army launched an offensive several days ago to capture rebel enclaves. The new battle for Baba Amr began as fighters in the oil-producing east said they had established religious committees to administer the area’s policing, judiciary and emergency services.  “We announce the ‘great victory battle’ to liberate neighbourhoods (controlled by the army), namely Baba Amr, and ease the pressure on our comrades and on besieged Homs districts,” a rebel said in a video posted on the Internet. Omar, an activist who is in touch with the fighters, said the rebels had infiltrated Baba Amr under cover of darkness. “Those manning the army checkpoints barely had time to realise what was going on,” he said. The army later massed reinforcements around Baba Amr, Omar said. Syrian Observatory for Human Rights chief Rami Abdel Rahman said the “surprise” dawn assault came after troops had reduced their presence in Baba Amr to target other rebel-held districts, including Khaldiyeh. The army, which controls around 80% of Homs, Syria’s third-largest city, launched an offensive several days ago to recapture Khaldiyeh in the north and rebel enclaves in the old city, using helicopters to bombard them. The army has besieged Khaldiyeh and neighbourhoods in the old city for eight months. In March last year President Bashar al-Assad’s army captured Baba Amr after pounding it relentlessly during a bloody campaign lasting more than a month. Assad later toured the battered neighbourhood, assuring residents that it would be rebuilt and normal life would resume. Hundreds of people, many of them civilians, were killed in the campaign which left much of Baba Amr in ruins. Among them were two foreign journalists, American reporter Marie Colvin of The Sunday Times in Britain and French photojournalist Remi Ochlik, who died when a makeshift media centre was shelled by Syrian forces. In the east, where large swathes of territory are now under rebel control, insurgents including the jihadist Al-Nusra Front have set up a religious council to administer affairs, the Observatory said. Video footage showed a convoy draped with black flags bearing inscriptions in the Deir Ezzor area and rebels attaching a banner to a building in Mayadeen. The Al-Nusra Front, completely unknown before the rebellion, has been a rebel standard-bearer since mid-2012 when it became the spearhead of the insurgency ahead of the Free Syrian Army (FSA). FSA fighters have told AFP that despite being fewer in number, the Al-Nusra fighters have better logistic and economic backing and receive financing “from abroad.” The fighters, who have claimed responsibility for suicide attacks, have made no secret of their aim to see Syria become an Islamist state. At least 160 people were killed across Syria on Saturday, and if no solution is found the number of refugees could greatly multiply, UN Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres told reporters in Ankara. Meanwhile, Manila hailed Saturday’s release of 21 Filipino UN peacekeepers freed by Syrian rebels into Jordan after they were abducted on the Golan last week.Refugee numbers could  triple by year end: UNThe UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres said yesterday there could be two or three times the 1mn registered Syrian refugees outside the country by the end of 2013 if the rise in numbers continues at its current rate. The 1 millionth Syrian refugee was registered in Jordan last week, following a dramatic acceleration in the number of civilians fleeing fighting in their homeland in the first two months of this year. Syrians started trickling out of the country nearly two years ago when President Bashar al-Assad’s forces shot at pro-democracy protests inspired by Arab revolts elsewhere.   The uprising has since turned into an increasingly sectarian struggle between rebels and government soldiers and militias.