Syrian regime pounds Homs as 2-day toll mounts to 120

The Syrian regime continued its offensive against the opposition, bombarding the city of Douma near Damascus, and Turkey said it had scrambled warplanes after Syrian helicopters flew near its border.
Syrian troops pounded several districts in the central city of Homs yestersday, as the death toll mounted across the country, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. In total, at least 48 people were killed yesterday, bringing to more than 120 the death toll over two days, the Britain-based watchdog reported.
While the wrangling over the fate of Syrian President Bashar Assad continued with Russia stonewalling while France and Germany calling for “Bashar to go” and China urging patience, Russia said that Syrian opposition leaders will visit Moscow next week in what could be a litmus test for an agreement struck by the United States, Russia and other major powers on a plan for political transition in Syria.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, meanwhile, will lead a US delegation to talks on the conflict in Syria being hosted by France this week, a US official confirmed yesterday.
The "secretary will lead our delegation to the Friends of Syria meeting in Paris," the State Department official told AFP, asking to remain anonymous. The confirmation came just after France said Russia had refused to attend.
Also, according to a Reuters report, Bashar told Turkish’s Cumhuriyet daily that he wished his forces had not shot down a Turkish jet last month and that he would not allow tensions with Turkey to lead to war.
A Syrian general and 84 soldiers were the latest to defect and flee to Turkey on Monday. But army and government defections have so far failed to shake Assad's 12-year grip on power.