SYRIAN ARMY ASSAULTS REBEL DISTRICT IN HOMS

SYRIAN TROOPS ADVANCE
ON REBEL-HELD AREA OF HOMS

Amman (AP) - Syrian troops launched a ground attack in Homs on Wednesday in an apparent attempt to overrun the rebel-held Baba Amro neighborhood that has endured 25 days of siege and fierce bombardment, opposition sources said. “The army is trying to go in with infantry from the direction of al-Bassel football field and fierce confrontations with automatic rifles and heavy machine guns are taking place there,” activist Mohammad al-Homsi told Reuters from Homs. He said the military had shelled Baba Amro heavily on Tuesday and overnight before the ground attack started. Several Western journalists are trapped in the battered district, although Syrian activists escorted British photographer Paul Conroy to safety in nearby Lebanon on Tuesday in a messy escape in which some of his rescuers were killed.

Reports from Baba Amro could not immediately be verified due to tight government restrictions on media work in Syria, where President Bashar Assad is struggling to repress an almost year-long uprising against his 11-year rule. Activists say hundreds of civilians have been killed in besieged opposition districts of Homs, including at least 20 on Tuesday. Shells and rockets have been crashing into Baba Amro since Feb. 4. Army snipers pick off civilians who venture out. The International Committee of the Red Cross and its local partner, the Syrian Arab Red Crescent, have been pushing for a ceasefire to enable them to extricate wounded civilians and bring in desperately needed supplies of food and medicine. The United Nations says Assad’s security forces have killed more than 7,500 civilians since the revolt began last March. U.N. political chief Lynn Pascoe said Tuesday he has “credible reports” from Syria of more than 100 civilians being killed every day, “including many women and children.”

Syrian troops advanced today on a key rebel-held area in Homs.  Government forces have been heavily shelling this city for more than three weeks with tanks, artillery and rockets. While diplomats continue to seek ways to halt the crisis and get humanitarian aid into the country, Syrian Government’s deadly crackdown on an opposition uprising has already killed well over 7,500 people. Diplomats try to stop the killing, but the struggle for political power prevents find peace.

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US? 

When we forget this philosophy - that Krishna is the supreme father, Krishna is the supreme proprietor, Krishna is the supreme enjoyer, and Krishna is the supreme friend of everyone -  when we forget this, then we come into this material world and struggle for existence, fight with one another. This is material life.  Nor can we get any relief through our politicians, diplomats, philosophers. They have tried so much, but actually nothing they have tried has become fruitful. Take the United Nations. It was organized after the second Great War, and they wanted, “We shall now settle everything peacefully.”  But there is no such thing.  The fighting is going on, between Pakistan and India or between Vietnam and America or this and that. Mundane politics and diplomacy and philosophy - this is not the process.  The process is Krishna consciousness.

Śrīla A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda :
“The Journey of Self-Discovery”
“Superconsciousness” -  Bhaktivedanta VedaBase