The reported buildup comes as the top US military officer, General Martin Dempsey, warned any intervention in Syria would be “very difficult” and that it was “premature” to arm the unrest-swept country’s opposition movement.
Activists and Syrian state media reported that at least 14 persons were killed on Sunday, adding to the more than 6,000 people who have died in the Syrian Government’s 11-month crackdown on dissent.
“Infantry troops arrived on Sunday in Homs,” Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, told AFP on the phone on Monday.
A Homs-based activist voiced fears of an imminent attack on Baba Amr, the main rebel stronghold in the central city, speaking of “unprecedented military reinforcements coming from Damascus.”
Meanwhile, a report from Washington said the US has deployed a large number of drones over Syria to monitor Syrian military attack on the opposition forces and civilians, NBC News has reported. Quoting Pentagon officials, the TV channel said that the operation of unmanned aircraft over the Syrian skies was not a harbinger of a US military intervention in the country but to gather evidence that can be used to “make the case for a widespread international response.”
Another report from Damascus said the Syrian authorities have freed blogger Razan Ghazzawi, symbol of an 11-month uprising, and six other female activists arrested last week, a human rights lawyer said on Monday.
The women were released on Saturday, but were ordered to report to police daily in order to continue their questioning, the lawyer, Anwar Bunni, said.
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