Syrian government troops continued their assault on Homs this week, threatening to fully wrest control of the strategic city from rebels who have used it to threaten the regime’s supply lines between Syria’s capital, Damascus, and the Mediterranean Sea.

Syrian government troops unleashed a major artillery barrage on the city of Homs on Friday, hitting buildings near a 13th century mosque as they pressed an assault on rebel-held areas in the country’s strategic heartland.

Homs has been an opposition stronghold since the early days of the uprising against Assad. Mass Arab Spring-inspired protests there starting in early 2011 prompted repeated army offensives on the city. Hundreds of people were killed and thousands driven from their homes.

The government now controls much of the city, though several neighborhoods in the center including Khaldiyeh and Bab Houd are still opposition strongholds.

Homs has been considered “the capital of the revolution,” and its loss by the opposition would be the second critical victory for the Syrian regime after Hezbollah-backed Syrian forces seized the city of Qusayr last month.

Meanwhile, United Nations officials slammed the offensive and deplored the lack of basic necessities in Homs. It is estimated that between 2,500 and 4,000 civilians are trapped in the fighting in and around the city. Discussing the dire humanitarian situation growing in Homs, Syrian Observatory for Human Rights Director Rami Abdel Rahman today said:

“The army’s continuous bombardment over the past 11 days has made the critical humanitarian situation in rebel areas of Homs even worse,” Syrian Observatory for Human Rights director Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP.

“An unknown number of rebels and civilians wounded in recent days are dying from their injuries, because there is no medical equipment to treat them,” he added.

[Photo: FreedomHouse / Flickr]