Satellite image of the Syrian gov't attack on
Satellite image of the Syrian gov't attack oncourtesy of US State Dept

Syrian Army regulars launched an assault Saturday on the rebel-held parts of the city of Homs, while continuing to bomb areas in Damascus and Aleppo.

“Great success” was reported in broadcast reports on the official state Syrian news television in the “elimination of terrorists,” according to SANA.  Opposition forces reported communications lines were severed Saturday morning in Homs before the assault began. Aircraft, tanks and mortar units shelled and bombed Khaldiya and Old City districts.

The official SANA news agency reported shelling in the Qaboun neighborhood in Damascus, and the “elimination of terrorists,” (the government’s appellation for rebels) in Damascus, Aleppo and Homs.

Opposition sources reported Saturday that several neighborhoods in Homs were targeted, including Khaldiya, Bjober and the Yarmouk refugee camp in Damascus, home to Palestinian Authority Arabs who moved to Syria but who were never allowed to become citizens.

Rebel fighters from the Al Nusra Front terrorist organization have meanwhile taken control over a major army post in Dera’a, on the Syrian border with Jordan, according to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR).

The checkpoint was captured Friday, Aljazeera reported, after two weeks of intensive fighting. Dera’a is the hotspot where the revolution was first launched in March 2011.

Rebel forces also captured a customs checkpoint in Daraa province (in which Dera'a is located) close to the Jordanian border, the Observatory reported, in the southern neighborhood of Manshiyeh. 

While the war has taken its toll on citizens militarily, the government has made things even worse by raising the price of diesel fuel. Syrian civilians use the fuel to run their generators for electricity, to heat their homes and to power their cars. The price hike further exacerbated an already heartbreaking situation for most.