CAIRO: Activists in Homs have reported that at least 18 premature babies died on Wednesday at a local hospital after electricity was cut, causing their incubators to shut down. “The babies were in al-Walid Hospital in al-Waar neighbourhood near the dissident area of Baba Amr,” an activist told German press agency dpa. It comes as near continuous shelling is being maintained by the security forces of President Bashar al-Assad in the country, which has left hundreds of civilians dead over the past few days of shelling. At least 47 people have been killed on Wednesday morning in the country. “The security forces started to storm the al-Khalidiyeh, al-Inshaat, Bab Amr neighborhoods, targeting residential areas and hospitals,” Omar Idibi, spokesman of the Syrian opposition Local Coordination Committees, told dpa in Beirut. “Initial reports from inside Homs said 47 are killed and scores of people were injured and cannot reach the hospital,” he added. The government troops had arrested several injured people in the hospital where they were being treated, he said. The targeted areas have been the hub of anti-regime protests since the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad erupted in March. The attack came a day after Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov held talks with Assad and pledged to try to solve the crisis. Assad said late Tuesday that he would “welcome any efforts toward a solution to the crisis,” the state news agency SANA reported. The United Nations has said more than 5,400 people were killed from mid-March, when the Syrian regime began its crackdown on pro-democracy activists, to January, when the UN stopped its body count. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which regularly updates the number of casualties, says more than 6,800 people have died. ** with dpa BM ShortURL: http://goo.gl/pxa5E Tags: Assad, Babies, featured, Homs Section: Health, Human Rights, Latest News, Syria
