25 killed in Syria as troops pound Homs

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hnkR1DRwhzTpF-ldHSCUYaSMXJHQ?docId=CNG.5c8c001c9016ace72b11816587703640.101

Syrian forces on Monday pounded the powderkeg city of Homs with rockets and mortars, killing 25 people and wounding scores amid outrage over a Russia-China veto of a UN resolution to stop the violence.
In Homs, upwards of 17 civilians were killed and dozens wounded as security forces renewed their bombardment, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
The opposition Syrian National Council said the regime had encircled the city with tanks ahead of "a major offensive" and urged the international community to act quickly to prevent a new massacre.

The Assad regime has decided to repress this uprising at all costs. The ships to return have been burnt, so to speak: there is no turning back. Should the regime lose Assad will not be going to exile somewhere warm and relaxing. He has decided that either he will win or he will decorate a street post in Damascus. With the Chinese and the Soviets, er, Russians declining to allow a vote of condemnation of the Syrian government by the UN, Assad has received full licenses to brutally put down this threat to power.