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The Syrian army has stepped up its attacks on Homs, activists and witnesses have said, a day after a UN Security Council resolution aimed at ending the bloodshed in Syria was blocked by Russia and China.
Video received by Al Jazeera from opposition activists on Sunday showed the apparent devastation caused by a military offensive in the Bab Amr neighborhood of Homs.
Activists and witnesses said the army has been shelling the neighborhood "indiscriminately" since Sunday morning.
The video images appear to show people who have been shot and hit by shrapnel, including heavily injured young children.
Speaking to Al Jazeera, Danny Abdul Dayem, a resident of Homs: "It has been terrible. There is non-stop bombing with rockets, mortar bombs and tank shells. There were more than 50 people injured in Bab Amr today.
"I saw with my own eyes kids with no legs, and a kid who lost his whole bottom jaw. It is terrible."
In the northeast of the country, army deserters destroyed a military control post early on Monday, killing three officers and capturing 19 soldiers in the process, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
The fighting happened on the village of Al Bara in the Edleb region, the observatory said, adding that none of the army deserters involved was killed and that the regular army post was completely destroyed.
The death toll in Syria rose to at least 88 people over the weekend - one of the bloodiest since the uprising against Assad's government erupted almost 11 months ago.
Opposition groups say at least 6,000 people have now been killed in Syria.
Sanctions
Meanwhile, Europe is set to strengthen sanctions imposed on Damascus in a bid to boost pressure on the government, France said on Sunday.
"Europe will again harden sanctions imposed on the Syrian regime," French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said on BFMTV television.
"We will try to increase this international pressure and there will come a time when the regime will have to realize that it is completely isolated and cannot continue."
Juppe also said France would "help the Syrian opposition to structure and organize itself" and would be working to create an international group on Syria.
Juppe said French President Nicolas Sarkozy "will take steps in the coming days to try to bring together all those who consider the current situation (in Syria) absolutely intolerable".
He also described the veto by China and Russia as a "moral stain" on the United Nations and said France would consider a call by Tunisia for all countries to expel Syrian diplomatic envoys.
Juppe added, however, that a decision by France to expel Syrian diplomats could lead to a tit-for-tat expulsion by Damascus.
"It is possible of course, but it would have to be measured against the consequences because our embassy in Damascus is today also playing a humanitarian role," he said.
"We would have to measure who such an expulsion would punish the most."
'Tragedy must stop'
Russia and China on Saturday blocked a UN Security Council resolution condemning Syria for its crackdown on protests, drawing condemnation from other global powers and the Syrian opposition.
The European Union has already agreed several rounds of sanctions against President Bashar al-Assad's government, with dozens of government insiders and companies targeted so far by an assets freeze and travel ban.
The EU is also enforcing an arms embargo and a ban on imports of Syrian crude oil.
Sarkozy on Saturday condemned the Russian and Chinese veto, saying it encouraged the Syrian government's crackdown.
"The Syrian tragedy must stop," said Sarkozy in a statement issued through his office.
Since March 2011, "the Damascus regime has only responded to the legitimate aspirations of the Syrian people for freedom and democracy with fierce repression and endless promises," Sarkozy said.
Didier Reynders, Belgium's foreign affairs minister, echoed France's dismay, saying Sunday that "new restrictive measures" should be taken against the Syrian government.
In a statement, Reynders said the veto caused him "great disappointment".
"It was a dark day for the Security Council, for the Syrian people and for all democrats," Reynders said.
Gerard Longuet, the French defense minister, earlier on Sunday slammed Russia for blocking the resolution on Syria and said Moscow cannot hold out "indefinitely" in the face of global opinion.
"Russia, for reasons that are almost shameful, is blocking everything," Longuet told RTL radio.
"We have a duty, we Europeans, to show that we will never accept this regime. Russia can hold out for 15 days, two months, but it cannot hold out indefinitely," he said.
Turkey joined the backlash Sunday, with deputy prime minister Bulent Arinc criticizing Iran and other Arab countries for failing to speak out on the Syrian crisis.
"I am addressing the Islamic Republic of Islam: I do not know if you are worthy of being called Islamic," Arinc said, according to the Anatolia state news agency.
"Have you said a single thing about what is happening in Syria?"
PHOTO CAPTION
A protester steps on a poster, sprayed with red paint and with images of Syria's President Bashar al-Assad and Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and other politicians, in front of the Russian embassy in Beirut February 5, 2012, during a demonstration against the vetoing by Russia and China of a U.N. resolution and in solidarity with Syria's anti-government protesters.
Al-Jazeera
