BEIRUT - Syrian forces loyal to President Bashar Assad recaptured the shattered Baba Amr district in central Homs on Tuesday, an opposition monitoring group said.The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said pro-government forces regained the district, left largely uninhabitable by fierce campaigns of rocket fire and air raids, after more than two weeks of fighting off a surprise push by rebels to retake their former bastion.Homs, and particularly Baba Amr, was the epicenter of the armed rebellion against four decades of Assad rule. The two-year uprising, which began as peaceful protests, has since spiraled into a full scale civil war across the country.The city, 140 km (88 miles) north of Damascus, lies on a road juncture linking army bases on the Mediterranean coast and government forces in the capital Damascus.
(photo credit: The Jerusalem Post)