At least 200 were reported killed Feb. 2 in the Syrian city of Homs as security forces pursued their campaign to take back opposition-held areas on the eve of a UN Security Council vote on a much-disputed resolution on the country's crisis. Woman and children were among the dead in shelling of the city's Khalidya district, according to the the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. (The Guardian [2], Feb. 3) That same day, Syrian security forces tightened their grip on the city of Hama [3] (just to the north of Homs, see map [4]) as protesters splashed red paint symbolizing blood in the streets to mark the 30th anniversary of the famous massacre carried out there by President Bashar Assad's father and predecessor Hafez Assad. The 1982 Hama massacre, in which entire neighborhoods were levelled to put down a local rebbellion, has become a rallying cry for the Syrian uprising that began nearly 11 months ago. Amnesty International estimates up to 25,000 were killed in the massacre. Graffiti on the walls this week read: "Hafez died, and Hama didn't. Bashar will die, and Hama won't." (AP [5], Feb. 2)
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