75 rebels killed amid Syria army offensive in Homs

At least 75 rebels were killed when Syrian army targeted their positions in the country's central province of Homs, the pro-government al-Watan daily said Sunday. The Syrian forces targeted the rebels' positions in area of Jub al-Jarrah, east of Homs, killing more than 75 of them, including foreign rebels affiliated with the Nusra Front, an official al- Qaida affiliate in Syria, and the so-called Islamic Front, an alliance of six Islamic groups recently united in one front, according to the paper. Separately, the paper said seven civilians were killed and 25 others wounded, including women and children, by a rebels' mortar attack against the government-controlled districts of al-Khudir and Ensha'at in central Homs. The Syrian troops also continued their military offensive to secure the eastern rim of the northern province of Aleppo and foiled rebels attack against a strategic military site in the coastal province of Latakia, the paper said. Meanwhile, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a London- based watchdog group, said the Syrian helicopters dropped bomb barrels on the rebel-held town of Om Hawsh in the northern countryside of Aleppo, killing five people of one family, including two women and three children. The activists' report couldn't be independently verified.