DAMASCUS, Syria — Syrian forces launched a massive bombardment of rebel districts of Homs on Thursday, defying a world outcry over the killing of two Western journalists and a citizen reporter.
Activists spoke of “terrifying explosions” as encircling regime troops pounded the central city for a 20th straight day.
The UN Human Rights Council said it had a list of Syrian officials suspected of crimes against humanity after an inquiry found that the government had “manifestly failed” in its duty to protect its own people.
But a defiant foreign ministry rejected all responsibility for the deaths of veteran American reporter Marie Colvin and French photojournalist Remi Ochlik, insisting they had entered the country illegally and at their own risk.
The dawn bombardment of Homs — Syria’s third-largest city — centered on the Baba Amr neighborhood, where the two journalists were killed, a human rights watchdog said.
“Baba Amr, as well as parts of Inshaat, have been shelled since 7:00am [local time Thursday], while mortar rounds slammed into the Khaldiyeh neighborhood,” the head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Rami Abdel Rahman, said.
Activist Hadi Abdullah said from inside the city, “We hear terrifying explosions.”
He said the world outcry over the deaths of the journalists and 24 Syrian civilians in Homs on Wednesday only appeared to have strengthened the regime’s determination to eliminate all opposition in the city.
“The more the condemnations pile on, the heavier the bombing becomes,” he added.
Abdullah said there was evidence that the makeshift media center where the journalists were killed and two others wounded was deliberately targeted by regime forces.
“We are sure that the center was targeted, because 11 rockets struck in and around it,” he said. “The regime forces intercepted a transmission signal.”
The (London) Sunday Times photojournalist Paul Conroy was injured in the same attack, along with French reporter Edith Bouvier of Le Figaro.
A foreign ministry statement read out on state television said, “We reject statements holding Syria responsible for the deaths of journalists who sneaked into its territory at their own risk.”
The ministry urged journalists to “respect laws of journalistic work in Syria and avoid breaking the law by entering the country illegally to reach trouble-hit areas that are unsafe.”
Syrian citizen journalist Rami al Sayyed, who provided live footage on the internet from Baba Amr, was also killed late Tuesday when a rocket hit a car in which he was traveling.
Washington accused Damascus of “shameless brutality” in its bombardment of the press center while Paris held the regime responsible.
On the eve of an international conference in the Tunisian capital of Tunis, dubbed the “Friends of Syria,” a UN probe delivered a withering report on the regime’s human rights record.
“The human rights situation in the Syrian Arab Republic has deteriorated significantly since November 2011, causing further suffering to the Syrian people,” the international commission of inquiry wrote after conducting 136 new interviews since its previous report in November.
The UN Human Rights Council said it had list of political leaders and military officers suspected of “crimes against humanity.”