Marie Colvin (left) and Remi Ochlik. Photo: AFP
The US appeared to open the door to eventually arming Syria's opposition, Reuters reported, saying remarks by officials at both the White House and the State Department marked a shift in its Syrian policy.
At the same time, the largest opposition group, Syrian National Council (SNC), said yesterday that it was coming to the view that military intervention was the only solution to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad's regime.
"We still believe that a political solution is what's needed in Syria," White House spokesman Jay Carney said. "But, we don't rule out additional measures."
Asked if the US was shifting its stance on arming the rebels, US State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said, "if we can't get Assad to yield to the pressure that we are all bringing to bear, we may have to consider additional measures."
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is expected to travel to Tunisia tomorrow and to attend the first Friends of Syria group meeting, in which she will meet representatives from all Syrian opposition groups, including the SNC.
Russia said it backed a call by the International Committee of the Red Cross yesterday to set up a daily two-hour truce in Syria, but opposed establishing humanitarian corridors for reaching civilians.
"I can't tell what the enemies of Syria are going to do next, but I can tell you that the Syrian army is strong enough to defend its country and people," Imad Mustapha, the Syrian ambassador to China, told the Global Times, indicating Assad's regime is resolved to defy mounting pressure from the West and Arab countries.
The continuous shelling of Homs entered the 19th day yesterday and 19 more people, including two Western journalists, were killed, reports said.
French photographer Remi Ochlik and American veteran war reporter Marie Colvin, who was working for Britain's Sunday Times, were killed when several rockets hit the garden of a house used by journalists in the besieged Homs neighborhood of Baba Amr, according to the AP's report.
Two other journalists were wounded in the same attack and one is in serious condition.
Syrian authorities said yesterday they were not aware that two Western journalists who were killed had entered the country.
Two Global Times reporters, who were yesterday trying to sneak into Homs from the Lebanese side, said there were dozens of journalists from all over the world waiting at the secret entry point to be escorted into the battle fields of Homs. They said those journalists didn't retreat on hearing about the tragedy of Ochlik and Colvin.
"The Syrian government is racing against time to overpower the defiant Homs. But, the killing of the two journalists may accelerate the formation of a united front against the Assad regime at tomorrow's meeting in Tunisia," one of the Global Times reporters said.
Agencies contributed to this story