ASSAULT

Syria Shells City of Homs

Russian foreign minister will visit nation Tuesday.

Syria is spiraling further into violence after a U.N. resolution criticizing President Bashar al-Assad’s regime failed to pass. The shelling of Homs has resumed with a vengeance, killing dozens so far, according to activists. Videos reportedly show constant gunfire and extremely loud explosions every half hour. The spike in violence led the U.S. to pull out of Damascus on Monday, closing its embassy and sending its employees out of the country. Rebels say that a hospital is being targeted and that the assault is one of the largest in the 11-month uprising. Syria’s biggest opposition group said Russia and China, the two nations that vetoed the resolution, are “responsible for the escalating acts of killing.” Russia and China claimed that supporting the resolution would have amounted to taking sides in a civil war. On Tuesday, Russia's foreign minister will head to Syria to reportedly tell Assad to end the brutal crackdown.