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February 22nd, 2012 
FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda “It’s too much of a coincidence … There are reports of planes flying around and they may be looking for the satellite uplinks,” The New York Times quoted a Syrian activist in Cairo as saying.
Shells had reportedly rained down on rebellious districts of Homs at a rate of 10 per minute at one point on Tuesday, according to The Associated Press. Homs is Syria’s third-largest city.
The Red Cross has called for a daily two-hour cease-fire so that it can deliver emergency aid to the wounded and sick.
Activists: Scores killed as Syria targets civilians
Earlier, an opposition activists’ group said Syrian troops and militiamen loyal to Assad chased, captured and then shot dead 27 young men in three northern villages.
The men, all civilians, were mostly shot in the head or chest on Tuesday in their homes or in streets in the villages of Idita, Iblin and Balshon in Idlib province near the border with Turkey, the Syrian Network for Human Rights said.
Several YouTube videos taken by local activists in Idlib, which could not be independently confirmed, showed bodies of young men with bullet wounds lying in streets and in houses.
Video: Syrian forces bombard Homs (on this page)
Meanwhile, the Obama administration has opened the door slightly to international military assistance for Syria’s armed opposition.
In coordinated messages, the White House and State Department said Tuesday they still hoped for a political solution.
But, faced with the daily onslaught by the Assad regime against Syrian civilians, officials dropped the administration’s previous strident opposition to arming anti-regime forces. However, it remained unclear what, if any, role the U.S. might play in providing such aid.
“We don’t want to take actions that would contribute to the further militarization of Syria because that could take the country down a dangerous path,” White House press secretary Jay Carney told reporters on Tuesday.
“But we don’t rule out additional measures if the international community should wait too long and not take the kind of action that needs to be taken,” he added.
NYT: US should help Syria rebels, McCain says
The administration had previously said flatly that more weapons were not the answer to the Syrian situation.
There had been no mention of “additional measures,” despite daily reports from Syrian activists of dozens of deaths from government attacks.
At the State Department, spokeswoman Victoria Nuland used nearly identical language to describe the administration’s evolving position.
“From our perspective, we don’t believe that it makes sense to contribute now to the further militarization of Syria,” she told reporters.
“What we don’t want to see is the spiral of violence increase. That said, if we can’t get Assad to yield to the pressure that we are all bringing to bear, we may have to consider additional measures,” she added.
The Associated Press, Reuters, NBC News and msnbc.com staff contributed to this report.
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