The 2012 Homs offensive was a Syrian Army offensive in early February 2012 on the armed rebellion stronghold of Homs. The offensive occurred within the scope of the Siege of Homs and ended with an U.N. brokered ceasefire on 14 April 2012.
The offensive began by artillery bombardment by the Syrian armed forces in response to an attack by the Free Syrian Army on Syrian Army checkpoints on 3 February 2012, killing 10 soldiers. Government forces then began to bombard the city using tanks, helicopters, and artillery, rockets and mortars. The Syrian government has denied that the bombardment is indiscriminate and blamed "armed groups" for the civilian deaths, including the deaths of foreign journalists.
Heavy shelling continued on 29 February, as the Syrian armed forces launched a ground operation to restore control of the Baba Amr neighbourhood. The Syrian government announced that the army was being sent into the area and were "cleaning" it from rebel fighters, and that the operation would be over in a matter of hours. At this stage, water supplies, electricity and communications were entirely cut off in the Baba Amr district according to opposition activists. Heavy clashes continued throughout the day, as the Syrian Army's 4th Armoured Division sent in tanks and infantry. Baba Amr was finally secured by the Syrian army on the morning of 1 March, as rebel forces claimed they had made a "tactical retreat" from the area, after running low on weapons and ammunition.
Background
Following the killing of 10 Syrian Army soldiers at a checkpoint and the capture of another 19 soldiers by the Free Syrian Army, government forces began an artillery bombardment of the city of Homs on the night of 3 February 2012.
The operation
February bombardment
The bombardment began on the 30th anniversary of the Hama Massacre, a significant event for many Syrians. The Khaldiyeh neighborhood in particular was targeted when the bombardment began on 3 February, and opposition activists soon claimed that the initial attack led to over 200 deaths. According to the opposition activist group Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, after more than two hours of shelling, at least 217 were killed in Homs, with 138 of the deaths having occurred in Khaldiya. They later raised their estimate of the death toll to over 260.
Within a few days, the opposition Syrian National Council claimed the death toll had reached 416, and cited residents as saying at least 36 houses with families still inside were totally destroyed. They later revised their toll down to 290 killed in that period, however. According to an Al Arabiya correspondent in Homs, the district hospital was also destroyed. The correspondent claimed that at least 337 people had been killed and that over 1,300 people were injured in the shelling. However, the SNC and Al Arabiya figures were not independently confirmed and several western media outlets (including Reuters, France24, BBC and CNN) reported the death toll at around 200. The Free Syrian Army vowed to fight back with intense operations against the governments' forces and claimed to have destroyed an air intelligence building in Homs. Opposition activists posted many videos depicting burning buildings and dead bodies that they said were filmed in Homs. At least 30 buildings, including a hospital, were said to have been destroyed or severely damaged in the shelling. According to the SOHR, 14 Syrian Army soldiers and five army defectors were also killed in the shelling and fighting in addition to the civilian deaths. The Local Coordination Committees also initially claimed that the death toll was more than 200 people, saying that they were working to confirm the number of deaths. They later revised their figures, confirming only 55 deaths. On 5 February, the LCC stated that they had documented the names of 212 people that had been killed in Homs, but counted only 181 bodies.
At least 300 rockets struck Homs on the morning of 6 February, leading to 15 deaths, with some claiming up to 50 dead, and later 95 dead. The FSA attempted a counter-attack against the government forces, managing to hold them at bay for a short time before they had to fall back. Two rebel fighters were killed in the fighting. The assault continued on 7 February, resulting in at least 19 deaths and 40 injuries as government forces shelled the city and attempted to move into rebel-held areas.
At least 47 people were killed on the morning of 8 February. Tanks were reported moving down the main thoroughfares and were poised to advance into residential areas, according to locals. The Syrian state news agency reported that an oil refinery near Homs was attacked by "armed groups." On 9 February, activists said 110 people were killed in Homs by artillery shelling. Another group of activists reported a toll of 57 dead. On 10 February, five FSA fighters were killed in the continued shelling, including Colonel Ahmed Jumrek, who had defected from the Syrian Army.
On 14 February, an FSA commander told reporters that his men had repelled a ground assault on the Bab Amr district, saying that four government tanks had been destroyed when they tried to enter the district.
According to the opposition, rockets struck parts of Homs at a rate of four per minute on 18 February, the most violent bombardment for two weeks. The BBC reported shells were hitting the Homs neighborhoods of Baba Amr, Inshaat, Bayada and Khaldiya, according to opposition and human rights activists. On the morning of 21 February 2012, news sources were reporting a new wave of heavy bombardment had begun, killing at least 30 people. An opposition member who was broadcasting live footage of the quarter of Bab Amr on the website Bambuser was killed in the fighting.
American journalist Marie Colvin, working for The Sunday Times of London, was killed in Homs on 22 February during an artillery attack, along with French photographer Rémi Ochlik. In her last broadcast, an interview with Anderson Cooper of CNN, Colvin accused the Syrian Army of perpetrating the "complete and utter lie that they are only targeting terrorists." Describing what was happening as "absolutely sickening", Colvin said: "The Syrian army is simply shelling a city of cold, starving civilians." Colvin, who had lost an eye to shrapnel in Sri Lanka and had covered conflicts in Chechnya, Kosovo, Sierra Leone, Zimbabwe, Libya, and East Timor, described the bombardment of Homs as the worst conflict she had ever experienced.
Soon after Colvin's death, Lebanese intelligence claimed to have intercepted communications between Syrian Army officers to the effect that direct orders had been issued to target the makeshift press centre from which Colvin had been broadcasting. Jean-Pierre Perrin, a journalist for the Paris-based Liberation newspaper who had been with Colvin in Homs as recently as the previous week, claimed he had been told that the Syrian Army was "deliberately" going to shell their centre. Mr Perrin said the Syrians were "fully aware" that the press centre was broadcasting direct evidence of crimes against humanity, including the murdering of women and children. Perrin claimed that "[t]he Syrian Army issued orders to 'kill any journalist that set foot on Syrian soil,'" saying that he received news of the intercepted Syrian Army radio traffic upon arriving in Beirut. The Syrian government knew that if they destroyed the press centre, said Mr. Perrin, there would be "no more information coming out of Homs."
Activists told that 81 people, both FSA rebels and civilians, were killed the same day. One activist told that helicopters were used to identify the targets. A Lebanese official told that the Syrian government wanted to finish the battle before the referendum poll on the new Syrian constitution. On the same day, Syrian state media claimed men had killed two officers, a first lieutenant and a captain, when men fired an RPG at their car from a bridge. SANA said another member of the security forces was killed by a bomb in Homs.
On 23 February, the Syrian army entered the Jobar area close to Bab Amr. One activist told that the army successfully cut all escape roads of Bab Amr and that unlike the previous fights, the FSA will be unable to escape.
On 26 February, SANA reported that 40 rebels surrendered in Bab Amr quarter. At least 89 people died in Homs between 26 and 27 February as clashes and bombardment continued. 64 of those killed were refugees kidnapped and executed by the Syrian Army, according to opposition sources. At least 25 people were wounded in shelling on 27 February.
Government ground assault on Baba Amr
Heavy shelling continued on 29 February as government forces launched an operation to retake control of the Baba Amr neighbourhood. The Syrian government announced that the army was being sent into the area and were "cleaning" it from rebel fighters, and that the operation would be over in a matter of hours. Helicopter gunships were reported to have fired upon FSA fighters and civilians, according to people on the ground. At least 11 people were reported killed initially, including a family of five. Water supplies, electricity and communications were entirely cut off in the Baba Amr district according to opposition activists. Heavy clashes continued throughout the day, as the Syrian Army's 4th Armoured Division sent in tanks and infantry. Although the FSA Farouq Brigades defending Baba Amr stated that they would fight to the last man, it was reported that some of the FSA leaders already made an escape from the district.
Baba Amr finally fell to government forces on the morning of 1 March, as the Free Syrian Army claimed they had made a "tactical retreat" from the area, after running low on weapons and ammunition. They made the decision to withdraw from Baba Amr and into other parts of Homs because "worsening humanitarian conditions, lack of food and medicine and water, electricity and communication cuts as well as shortages in weapons." During their retreat, 17 rebels were captured by the military and executed on the spot. The activist group Avaaz, for its part, claimed they were civilians and that they were beheaded, but this was not confirmed by other sources. Afterwards, at least 10 Syrian civilians were killed by government forces, who had also turned the shopping centre into a detention area. At a later date, an FSA commander stated that out of 250 rebel fighters defending the district 114 were killed in the fighting.
Karm al-Zeitoun massacre
On 9 March, 30 tanks of the Syrian Army entered the quarter of Karm al-Zeitoun. After this, it was reported that the Syrian Army had massacred 47 women and children in the district (26 children and 21 women), some of whom had their throats slit, according to activists. The opposition claimed that the main perpetrators behind the killings were the government paramilitary force the Shabiha. The Syrian National Council (SNC), the main opposition group, called for an emergency UN Security Council meeting to discuss the "massacre", which it said took place on 11 March. Hadi Abdallah, a Syrian activist, said: "Some of the children had been hit with blunt objects on their head, one little girl was mutilated and some women were raped before being killed," he said. Video footage was made of the bodies. The Syrian Government acknowledged that the massacre had indeed taken place, but claimed that "armed gangs" in the district killed them. On 13 March, opposition activists posted a video on the internet purporting to show the army shelling the district of Karm al-Zeitoun.
March–April fighting
On 20 March, 14 were reported killed from a new round of shelling, which continued into the next day, hitting the opposition stronghold neighborhoods of Khalidiya, Qussor, and Bayada in northern Homs. The military also reportedly entered Khalidiya. The opposition activist group, the L.C.C., stated that another 40 people were killed on the second day of the bombardment, including 25 in Khalidiya.
On 24 March, most rebel forces retreated from the Bab Sbaa district, under intense shelling, as the military moved in and a number of civilians were also attempting to leave the neighborhood. However, activists reported the neighbourhood was still under bombardment of heavy shelling as of 26 March. Still, an activist stated that the FSA presence in the district was small and they were not in a position to do anything. Another activist also later confirmed the capture of the district.
On 2 April, about 40 FSA members captured the National Hospital in Juret al-Shayah district. They found 78 corpses stacked in a refrigerator.
In renewed fighting on 8 April, mortars were described as falling "like rain" on the opposition-held neighbourhood of Khaldiyeh, according to an activist. A makeshift hospital was allegedly stacked with 40 bodies which the opposition were desperately trying to keep cool with fans. According to the activist, they may have to be buried "in public gardens" due to a lack of other feasible options.
Mid-April
Starting on 14 April 2012, a nationwide cease-fire came in effect, though separate clashes continued in several friction points. Into the morning of the same day, major shelling happened in the districts of Juret al-Shayah and al-Qarabis that violated the implemented Kofi Annan truce.