Activists: Syrian troops attack rebel-held town  — Syrian troops
shelled a rebel-held town on Monday, sparking intense clashes
that sent bloodied victims flooding into hospitals and clinics,
activists said.  The violence in Rastan, in the restive central
Homs province, and elsewhere around the country is eroding an
internationally brokered peace plan that many observers see as
the last hope to calm the 14-month-old crisis.  An amateur video
showed a young girl who apparently suffered shrapnel wounds in
her thigh undergoing treatment in a makeshift Rastan hospital
while screaming in pain. Asked where her mother was, the girl
cries: "She died."  Rastan, just north of Homs, has been under
rebel control since January. The Britain-based Syrian
Observatory for Human Rights and the activist network called the
Local Coordination Committees said the latest shelling of Rastan
started on Sunday.  Rami Abdul-Rahman, who heads the
Observatory, said the rebels were able to destroy several army
vehicles during the clashes a