Reports: 2 Western journalists killed in Syria

Two Western journalists were killed Wednesday in the besieged Syrian city of Homs, according to reports.

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Citing opposition activists, Reuters said one of the victims was American while the other was French. It was not immediately possible to confirm their identities.

A witness told Reuters by phone that shells hit the house where the journalists were staying and a rocket hit them as they were escaping.

Shells reportedly rained down on rebellious districts of Homs at a rate of 10 per minute at one point on Tuesday, according to The Associated Press.

The Red Cross has called for a daily two-hour cease-fire so that it can deliver emergency aid to the wounded and sick.

Assad's crackdown on protests against his rule killed 5,400 people in 2011 alone, according to the United Nations. Hundreds more have been killed since, activist groups say. One activist group has put the current death toll at more than 7,300.

Homs is Syria's third-largest city.

Activists: Scores killed as Syria targets civilians

Earlier, an opposition activists' group said Syrian troops and militiamen loyal to President Bashar Assad chased, captured and then shot dead 27 young men in three northern villages.

The men, all civilians, were mostly shot in the head or chest on Tuesday in their homes or in streets in the villages of Idita, Iblin and Balshon in Idlib province near the border with Turkey, the Syrian Network for Human Rights said.

Several YouTube videos taken by local activists in Idlib, which could not be independently confirmed, showed bodies of young men with bullet wounds lying in streets and in houses.

Video: Syrian forces bombard Homs (on this page)

Meanwhile, the Obama administration has opened the door slightly to international military assistance for Syria's armed opposition.

In coordinated messages, the White House and State Department said Tuesday they still hoped for a political solution.

But, faced with the daily onslaught by the Assad regime against Syrian civilians, officials dropped the administration's previous strident opposition to arming anti-regime forces. However, it remained unclear what, if any, role the U.S. might play in providing such aid.

"We don't want to take actions that would contribute to the further militarization of Syria because that could take the country down a dangerous path," White House press secretary Jay Carney told reporters.

"But we don't rule out additional measures if the international community should wait too long and not take the kind of action that needs to be taken," he added.

NYT: US should help Syria rebels, McCain says

The administration had previously said flatly that more weapons were not the answer to the Syrian situation.

There had been no mention of "additional measures," despite daily reports from Syrian activists of dozens of deaths from government attacks.

At the State Department, spokeswoman Victoria Nuland used nearly identical language to describe the administration's evolving position.

"From our perspective, we don't believe that it makes sense to contribute now to the further militarization of Syria," she told reporters.

"What we don't want to see is the spiral of violence increase. That 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," she added.

The Associated Press, Reuters and msnbc.com staff contributed to this report.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46477679/ns/world_news-mideast_n_africa/

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