Syrian Forces Widen Attacks as Cease-Fire Unravels

Activists say Syrian government forces widened their attacks on opposition strongholds Tuesday, killing two civilians and wounding dozens more as a U.N.-brokered cease-fire continued to unravel despite the presence of foreign observers.

The Britain-based human rights organization said the casualties occurred when army tanks shelled the town of Busra al-Harir, a stronghold of the rebel Free Syrian Army in southern Daraa province. The activist group said troops loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad also continued to shell the Khaldiyeh neighborhood in the central city of Homs, a center of the anti-government revolt. Homs has been under continuous attack, with only a short break on the first day of the cease-fire. The casualties could not be independently verified. In Damascus, the head of an advance team of six unarmed United Nations observers said it would take time for monitors to reach the hardest hit areas. Col. Ahmed Himmiche said Tuesday the group’s mission “is a difficult process [that] requires coordination and planning…we should move step by step.”