叙利亚活动人士称支持政府的部队进攻霍姆斯战略要地

Syrian activists say forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad are pushing to gain control in a strategically important section of the central city of Homs.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Thursday the troops have taken over a large part of the Wadi al-Sayeh neighborhood, which sits between several rebel-controlled districts in center of the city.

The Observatory warned that if pro-Assad forces capture what it calls the city's "old neighborhoods," then there are fears that sectarian killings could follow.

Homs is Syria's third-largest city, located along a highway about halfway between the capital, Damascus, to the south and the commercial center of Aleppo to the north.  It has been a key hub in the more than two-year-old uprising against Mr. Assad.