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Syrian government forces have taken control of the north-western city of Idlib, after days of clashes with rebel fighters, opposition activists say.
Security forces are now reportedly carrying out house-to-house searches in the area, which has been a stronghold of the Free Syrian Army (FSA).
It is not clear where the rebels have gone, or how many people have died.
The “Al Arabiya” TV channel on Monday quoted the coordinating committees of the Syrian revolt as saying that a “massacre” was committed again Sunday evening in Homs by the forces loyal to the Syrian regime.
At least 50 people were slaughtered in their homes in the neighborhood of Karm El-Zeitoune.
Other sources noted that the regime’s forces have slaughtered 45 people (20 women and 25 children).
Palestinian militants fired a barrage of rockets into Israel on Friday, after the Israel Air Force launched a strike in Gaza and killed the leader of the Popular Resistance Committees, who was believed to be planning a large terror attack on Israel’s southern border.
Amid the rocket fire on Friday evening, IDF forces launched two more strikes on Gaza targets, killing two Islamic Jihad militants who were preparing to fire rockets into Israel.
Israeli cities near the Gaza border were put on high alert on Friday evening, and the residents have been asked to stay close to bomb shelters. Highway 12, which runs along the Israel-Egypt border, was closed to traffic, and will remain closed on Saturday as well.
The Syrian army on Thursday sent further troop reinforcements to the northwestern province of Idlib, where activists said they fear an assault similar to the one that devastated the Baba Amro neighborhood of Homs, as Turkey said it was opposed to any force from outside the region intervening in Syria.
As many as 62 people have been killed by the fire of Syrian troops across the country, activists at the Syrian Local Coordination Committees told Al Arabiya.
Rami Abdul Rahman, head of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said the troop buildup appeared to indicate a major military operation was imminent given reports in the official press of “armed terrorist groups” in the region.
At least six people were killed, including a young girl, as Syrian forces on Tuesday launched a major assault on Herak, a town in the southern province of Daraa.
The girl was shot dead by a sniper, while at least five soldiers were killed in clashes with members of the rebel Free Syrian Army (FSA), the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.