[Stout:] Welcome back. Now, the United Nations says more than 3,500 people have been killed in Syria since anti-government protests began there in March. The U.N. says there are reports that Syrian troops have killed dozens of people this past week alone. That's only days after the government signed on to an Arab League peace plan and pledged to end the violence. CNN cannot confirm the authenticity of this amateur video, but it seems to show uniformed security forces on a main street in Homs. And that city has been an epicenter of protests, and the situation appears to be escalating.
[Rima Maktabi, Cnn International Correspondent:] The battle for Homs, now a critical trial of strength for the Assad regime and its opponents. This city of nearly one million people has seen almost daily protests for nearly six months. But recently, that unrest has turned into organized and sometimes armed resistance. Many neighborhoods now look like urban battlefields. This video was uploaded to YouTube by activists and residents in Homs, but CNN can't verify when and exactly where it was shot. The Syrian authorities have not allowed CNN and other international media to report from inside the country. Despite heavy shelling and troops going house to house in search of protesters, the regime has been unable to pacify Homs, Syria's third largest city.
[Hayatham Al Maleh, Human Rights Lawyer/activist:] The people in Homs, maybe they are more stronger than the others. Maybe they take more important steps because they don't want to stop their revolution to see this regime is finished. But really, they are brave.
[Maktabi:] Syria's first military academy was established in Homs in 1932, and it has always been a source of recruits for the army. But more recently, defecting soldiers named the Free Syrian Army have begun to organized armed resistance here. But human rights activists say that Homs is also seeing growing sectarian strife between the majority Sunnis and minority Alawites, who traditionally support the regime. The U.N. High Commission for Human Rights reported that the Syrian government's brutal crackdown on dissent have claimed 3,500 lives. Sixty of them reported killed over the past week, even though the Syria government signed a peace plan sponsored by the Arab League that would include pulling the Syrian army out of restive cities. [on camera]: But the latest evidence from Homs is that the army and militia are tightening their grip on some neighborhoods, rounding up young men alleged to have been involved in the protests. The international community continues to condemn the Assad regime's clampdown on protests, but is offering no blueprint for resolving the crisis, and has consistently rejected the idea of enforcing a no-fly zone. So, what happens in Homs may mark a turning point in the battle for Syria's future. Rima Maktabi, CNN, Abu Dhabi.
[Stout:] The Thai government is telling people to stay out of Bangkok's stagnant floodwaters. Ahead, we've got the latest on Thailand's worst flooding in 50 years.