According to the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, at least 13 civilians were shot dead by security forces on Monday and Tuesday in Homs, after a bloody weekend that saw 30 people killed in the central city.
"Thirteen civilians were killed yesterday and today in several parts of Homs when the army opened fire as it carried out an operation in the city" to quell dissent, Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP in Nicosia.
"The Syrian authorities are carrying out military operations in Homs after having failed in their attempts to sow sectarian divisions in the city due to the foresight of the people of all faiths," Abdel Rahman said.
He also accused the regime of previous attempts to enflame sectarian tensions in other parts of the country, including Latakia, Jableh and Banias.
"The authorities' plan failed (in Homs) just as it failed in Banias last April" when pro-regime militias opened fire on a mosque in the coastal city with the aim of inciting sectarian tensions, he said.
Later on Tuesday, the Coordination Committees of the Syrian Revolution said another seven people were killed when pro-regime militia opened fire on a funeral in Homs.
"Seven martyrs fell and more than 40 people were wounded in the Al-Khalidiyeh quarter during funerals outside the Khaled bin al-Walid mosque," a statement said.
"Pro-regime militias got out of two ambulances in front of the mosque and started shooting," the statement said.
Regime-friendly daily Al-Watan led its Tuesday edition with the headline "Nightmare in Homs."
"Since the outset, everybody has been guarding against a slide towards a sectarian war ... which does not distinguish between Christians and Muslims," the paper said.
"But disagreements can only be resolved through dialogue," it added.
Late on Monday, another activist had said that security forces swept into Homs and shot dead a civilian and wounded four others.
Several coaches packed with security force personnel entered Khalidiyeh and gunfire was heard afterwards, said Abdel Karim Rihawi.
The wounded were taken to Al-Bir Hospital, said Rihawi, who heads the Syrian League for the Defence of Human Rights.
"The shooting continued in more than one area of Homs. The atmosphere is tense. Security and pro-regime militias are invading the neighbourhood, shooting indiscriminately to terrorise people," pro-democracy activists wrote Tuesday on their Facebook page "Syrian Revolution 2011," a driving force behind protests.
A Homs resident, declining to be identified, said: "Pro-regime (forces) attacked areas where the opposition lives. They sacked and looted shops."
White House spokesman Jay Carney said "enough is enough when it comes to the brutal treatment that the Syrian government has brought to bear against its own citizens.
"We continue to call on that regime to halt its campaign of violence, to pull its security forces back from Hama and other cities and to allow the Syrian people to express their opinions freely," he said.
Assad, added Carney, has "lost legitimacy" after failing to lead a transition.
Fierce fighting rocked Homs at the weekend, with activists reporting more than 30 people killed in clashes among Christians, Sunni Muslims and President Bashar al-Assad's minority Alawite community.
Activists have said the violence in Homs could spark a new and dangerous turning point in more than four months of pro-democracy protests, with Rihawi describing it as a "dangerous signal of the break-up of Syrian society."
Members of Syria's two million-strong Alawite community have held key positions within the regime since 1970, when Assad's late father, Hafez, led the ruling Baath party to power.
Alawites, a breakaway branch of Shiite Islam, make up 10 percent of the 22 million population, while Christians also represent around 10 percent.
Activists say the government's crackdown on pro-democracy and anti-regime protests has left more than 1,400 civilians dead. Thousands more have been jailed.
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