Activists: 200 die in Syria violence

BEIRUT -- In a barrage of shelling, Syrian forces killed 200 people and wounded hundreds early Saturday in Homs in an offensive that appears to be the bloodiest episode in the nearly 11-month-old uprising, activists said.

The offensive was reported in Homs, which has been one of the main flashpoints of opposition during the uprising against President Bashar Assad.

Two main opposition groups, the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and the Local Coordination Committees, said the death toll was more than 200 people. More than half of the killings -- about 140 -- were reported in the Khaldiyeh neighborhood.

"This is the worst attack of the uprising, since the uprising began in March until now," said Rami Abdul-Rahman, the head of the Observatory, which tracks violence through contacts on the ground.

The reports could not be independently confirmed.

A UN Security Council meeting Saturday was to take up a resolution on Syria. The move toward a vote came after Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton spoke by telephone with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in an effort to overcome Russian opposition to any statement that explicitly calls for regime change or a military intervention in Syria.

The United States and its partners have ruled out military action but want the global body to endorse an Arab League plan that calls on Assad to hand power over to Syria's vice president.

Clinton called Lavrov while flying Friday to Munich for a security conference that both are attending, State Department spokesman Mark Toner said. He said Clinton and Lavrov agreed to have American and Russian diplomats continue work on a Syria resolution and were planning to meet for more talks in the German city.