Syrian city of Homs in 8th day of siege

DAMASCUS, Syria, Feb. 12 (UPI) -- The Syrian government maintained a heavy artillery barrage Sunday on the city of Homs in an eighth day of trying to roust rebels, citizens said.

The Local Coordination Committees of Syria told CNN more than 600 adults and 59 children were killed in the last week, two-thirds of them in Homs. Early Sunday, citizen reports emerged from the city three more civilians had been killed by shelling.

Now in its 11th month, the armed uprising against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad has claimed at least 7,000 lives, the LCC group estimates.

Also Sunday, a rebel identified only as Omar told CNN that government soldiers had started using civilian detainees as human shields on tanks in Homs, but that couldn't be independently verified.

In Cairo, members of the Arab League convened with hopes of creating a strategy to end the fighting, although their previous offer of sanctuary to Assad and calls for his resignation have been ignored in Damascus.

The United Nations General Assembly was also scheduled to discuss a non-binding resolution in New York Monday, the report said.

A U.N. Security Council condemnation of the Syrian government's use of force on its own people was vetoed by China and Russia.