Continued escalation on the northern countryside of Homs and shelling hits Al-Houla again

Homs Province, the Syrian Observatory for Human rights: the regime forces shelled after midnight places in Taldo town in Al-Houla area in the northern countryside of Homs. No casualties were reported. The northern countryside of Homs and Homs city have been witnessing escalated shelling by the regime forces and warplanes. The SOHR published that a child was killed in shelling by the regime forces on areas in Al-Ghantou town, while another young man was killed and others were injured in shelling by the regime forces on places in Talbesa city in the northern countryside of Homs. Warplanes also shelled places in Borj Qa’I village north of Homs. In addition, the regime forces shelled areas in Talbesa city while simultaneously targeting areas in Borj Qa’I village. Two explosions were heard in Homs city. Cross references said to the SOHR that they were caused by the fall of two missiles on areas in Al-Zahraa neighborhood in Homs city, causing the death of a child and the injury of several others, with varied degrees of severity. On the other hand, the factions shelled today the regime-controlled villages of Qarmas and Maryameen in the northern countryside of Homs, leaving an air force officer, ranking colonel, and a woman dead and several others injured, with varied degrees of severity. Such targeting came as a result of the renewed shelling by the regime forces and three rounds of aerial raids on places in Al-Houla area, resulting in injuries. The SOHR had published earlier that the Russian-Egyptian truce in the northern countryside of Homs, which came into force in the afternoon of the 3rd of August 2017 collapsed on Friday, the 10th of August 2017. The SOHR published then that several reliable sources asserted to the SOHR that the truce of the northern countryside of Homs has collapsed, only one week after coming into effect, as a result of the escalated heavy shelling on areas there. However, contradictory information was reported about the reasons behind its failure as the truce mainly aimed at “deescalating tensions and military operation in the northern countryside of Homs”. Some parties accused the regime forces of not abiding by the ceasefire agreement there, while others said that the parties to the negotiations believed that such an agreement did not meet their demands.