The British-based, pro-opposition conflict monitor Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said an activist on the ground reported seeing "the bodies of 34 civilians, in a square in the pro-regime neighbourhood of Al-Zahra, who had been abducted by the shabiha [pro-government militia] on Monday", according to Agence France-Presse (AFP).

According to a local FSA commander, shabiha and army snipers were positioned in approximately 200 places in Homs and were shooting on everything that moved in designated zones such as Cairo street, which runs through the center of the city.

Reportedly, the FSA did not have the strength to repel a potential all-out Syrian Army assault on Baba Amr, instead planning to retreat and wait until the bulk of government forces withdrew from the district post-capture, as they did in October.

[31] In early December 2011, the Syrian government accepted an Arab League plan to send observers to monitor the situation on the ground along with agreeing to withdraw army equipment from cities.

[82] On 27 December, activists told Al Arabiya that at least 61 civilians had died in the shelling of Homs in recent days but reported a withdrawal of Syrian army tanks and a halt to ongoing military operations in the city.

Basil al-Sayed, a citizen journalist who regularly filmed security forces cracking down on anti-government protesters in the Baba Amr neighbourhood, of which he was a resident, had died in a local hospital of gunshot wounds on the same day.

[88] Activists and human rights groups strongly criticized the head of the Arab League monitors and his remarks; Omar Idilbi of the Local Coordination Committees, described Lt. Gen. Mustafa al-Dabi as a "senior officer with an oppressive regime that is known to repress opposition", adding that there are fears he might not be neutral.

Amnesty International also criticized General Dabi, saying that he led Sudanese dictator Omar al-Bashir's military intelligence service until August 1995, when he was appointed head of external security in Sudan.

[89] Abd-al-Karim al-Rayhawi, head of the Syrian League, told the BBC that Dabi "won't be neutral" and would sympathise with the Assad regime and "its henchmen who are committing crimes against humanity round the clock in Syria".

[91] Human Rights Watch (HRW) later accused Syria's government of hiding prisoners held in its crackdown from Arab League observers visiting the country, saying Syrian authorities had transferred perhaps hundreds of detainees to off-limits military sites.

Sarah Leah Whitson, HRW's Middle East director, said the security officer also told them that the Syrian government was issuing police identification cards to its military officials, which the rights watchdog said was in violation of the Arab League accord.

In early January 2012 the FSA called the Arab League mission a failure and stated that they did not want them to stay in Syria even though the Syrian Army withdrew its heavy weapons from the city.

A witness in Homs, who asked not to be named, said the casualties were caused by rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs) fired during a pro-Assad rally, while a journalist who was with Jacquier told CNN's Nic Robertson that the attack was carried out by mortars.

[109] Video footage was posted online reportedly showing a captured government BMP-1 being used by FSA forces; it bore two rebel flags and was seen firing with armed men in civilian clothes taking cover behind it.

[112] Following the killing of ten Syrian Army soldiers at a checkpoint and the capture of 19 by FSA fighters on the night of 3 February and into the early hours of 4 February–on the 30th anniversary of the 1982 Hama massacre–government forces began an artillery bombardment of Homs, particularly the Khaldieh neighborhood, which opposition activists claimed led to over 200 deaths.

However, the SNC and Al Arabiya figures were not independently confirmed and several international media outlets, including Reuters,[121] France 24,[122] BBC[123] and CNN[124] still reported the death toll of around 200.

[137] It was reported on 12 February that an FSA fighter had told British journalist Paul Wood that they summarily executed 11 prisoners under the pretext that they were shabiha, following an ambush of armored vehicles in December 2011, during which eight other soldiers were killed.

[153] A Syrian official speaking on condition of anonymity appeared to confirm that security forces were advancing on Baba Amr to clear it of rebel fighters and suggested that the operation would be over in a matter of hours.

[154] However, as more reports emerged in the late afternoon, it seemed that a ground operation had not taken place after all, with The Guardian's Middle East correspondent Martin Chulov, his colleague Peter Beaumont, and Syrian self-described citizen journalist Omar Shakir all tweeting that the Army had not entered the district.

[160] Aid groups said they had received the approval from the army to deliver the needed supplies and treatments to citizens[161] but were then prevented by soldiers, amid suspicions it was to cover up crimes they were in process of committing.

[162][full citation needed] During the fall of the district, rebels smuggled French journalists Edith Bouvier and William Daniels–the last who remained in the city–into Lebanon in an operation that cost the lives of six FSA members.

Ayham Kamel, a Middle East analyst, observed that the Syrian Army used the capture of Baba Amr to send the message that it was still the dominant force on the battlefield, noting that the stronghold was a significant base for the organization and weapons supply hub for the rebels.

[167] British journalist Paul Wood returned to Homs in the days following the fall Baba Amr, reporting that he encountered many groups of women and children, without men, who told stories of raids and of massacres and that residents were terrified of government reprisals.

[174] Syrian opposition activist and citizen journalist Hadi Al Abdullah said some of the children "had been hit with blunt objects on their head, one little girl was mutilated and some women were raped before being killed"; the bodies of the victims were recorded on video.

On 26 May, British foreign secretary William Hague said Britain would co-ordinate a "strong response" to the Houla massacre[194] and a UN Security Council statement, approved also by Russia and China, condemned the killings, saying it was "the result of government artillery and tank shellings on a civilian neighbourhood."

[36] A military source said in October that the Army launched a broad offensive to take control of all remaining Homs quarters and the neighbouring city of Al Qusayr as well.

Diplomats and opposition sources reported that the last opposition-held areas of Homs were set to fall within days to the Syrian army after the rebel forces decided to "sacrifice" the country's third-largest city to the government.

[334] On 17 February, Jeffrey White, a fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and a former senior American intelligence official, was quoted by the New York Times claiming that Assad government was conducting barrel-bomb attacks in Homs using Russian-supplied Mi-8 and Mi-17 helicopters.

[355] At this time, dozens of rebel fighters in Old Homs were trying to surrender, while others wanted to make a last stand and were sending suicide bombers against districts under government control, primarily the ones with an Alawite majority.

[376] The U.N. Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon says he has received "grisly reports" that Syrian government forces are arbitrarily executing, imprisoning and torturing people in Homs after opposition fighters in Bab Amr retreated.