Syrian opposition: Assad forces 'poised for assault' on protest hub

Syria's opposition warned on Friday that thousands of regime forces and loyalist militias have encircled the protest hub of Homs, poised to launch what may be a final bloody assault to crush dissent. 

The Syrian National Council said in a statement sent to AFP in Nicosia that President Bashar Assad's regime was using the pretext of what it called a "terrorist" attack on an oil pipeline to overrun the central protest hub. "The regime (is) paving the way to commit a massacre in order to extinguish the revolution in Homs," said the SNC, the principle umbrella organisation drawing together opponents of Assad's regime. (AFP)