Syrian forces thrust into the rebellious city of Homs on Wednesday, killing as many as 100 civilians by the accounts of opposition activists, and Turkey appeared to be preparing a new diplomatic push against President Bashar al-Assad.
Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, who is readying an initiative uniting Western, Arab and other states which have called for Ankara's former ally Assad to step down, was due to speak to Russian President Dmitry Medvedev later on Wednesday. The Turkish premier, who described the Russian and Chinese veto of the UN resolution at the weekend as a "fiasco", faces a hard sell with Moscow.
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has condemned Western "interference" of the kind seen last year in Libya as a "cult of violence". Putin, who first won the presidency after his military assault on the rebel Russian city of Grozny, is expected to return to the Kremlin via an election next month in which the Russian leader accuses the West of aiding his opponents. Moscow's foreign minister, having visited Assad in Damascus on Tuesday, made clear Russia was still opposed to any peace talks that were conditional on Assad first stepping aside.
A newspaper close to the Erdogan government said Turkey planned to organise a conference with Arab and Western governments in Istanbul, part of a broader initiative that may be outlined later on Wednesday. A NATO member and rising Muslim power in the region, Ankara is sheltering Syrian rebel army commanders and has spoken of creating safe havens for refugees.
As the diplomatic gears turned, the military offensive in Homs and elsewhere showed no sign of let up. Activists in the city also accused militiamen of slaughtering three families in their homes - the sort of incident that is fueling fears of a descent into more widespread, Iraq-style sectarian killing.
The day's death toll stood at over 100, activists said, offering figures that could not be independently verified.
Assault
The onslaught on Homs, one of the bloodiest of the 11-month-old revolt against Assad, has not relented despite a promise to end the bloodshed that the Syrian leader gave to Russia, which saved Damascus from UN Security Council action on Saturday. In the latest assault on Homs, troops fired rockets and mortars while tanks entered the Inshaat neighbourhood and moved closer to Bab Amro, the district hardest hit by bombardments that have killed nearly 200 people in the last two days, activists in the city and opposition sources said.
A group known as the Syrian Revolution General Commission called in a statement in the afternoon for outside humanitarian protection and that the day's death toll stood at 100. Hospitals were without electricity, it said, and were short of supplies, while the wounded and those transporting them to clinics perpetually risked arrest by the security forces. Syrian state television blamed explosions on Homs militants laying charges.
It accused "terrorists" of targeting a key refinery in the city with mortars while activists blamed the army for a fire that was filmed by residents. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said countries with influence over the Syrian opposition should press them to enter a dialogue with Assad, comments that made clear Moscow had no immediate intention of abandoning its long-time ally.
Lavrov was speaking in Moscow a day after he met Assad in Damascus, where he said both nations wanted to revive an Arab League monitoring effort that was suspended due to violence. French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe dismissed Syrian pledges of peace as deceit, "and we're not going to fall for it".
Putin insisted Russia was acting in good faith and was wary of Western motives in Syria: "We of course condemn all violence regardless of its source, but one cannot act like an elephant in a china shop," Putin told Russian religious leaders.
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