A tank rumbles by as gunshots sound. Smoke rises from a building. A voice says Syrian forces are attacking the neighborhood.<br/> Obtained from a social media web site, the videos - which cannot be independently verified by Reuters - purport to show Syrian forces waging an offensive in Homs, where activists report the deadliest assault in a nine-month-old government crackdown on protests against President Bashar al-Assad's rule.<br/> The videos surfaced on Thursday - the same day the Arab League says an advance team arrived to begin assessing whether Damascus is acting to end the bloodshed.<br/> Events in Syria are hard to verify because authorities have banned most independent reporting.<br/> Syria says they are battling terrorists who have killed more than 2,000 soldiers and police.<br/> Last week The United Nations said more than 5,000 people had been killed in the crackdown.<br/> Activists say hundreds more have died in an escalating death toll that has raised the specter of civil war.<br/> Katharine Jackson, Reuters.
