Rebels attack Syrian troops in Homs

Violence is unrelenting in the Syrian province of Homs.

Amateur video that Reuters cannot independently verify shows several rebels firing machine guns and heavy artillery at what seems to be a government tank.

Turkey has floated the idea of a "safe zone" to be set up for Syrian civilians under foreign protection -- an idea that President Bashar al-Assad quickly shot down as "unrealistic."

But speaking from Turkey where some 80,000 Syrians have sought refuge, a spokesman for the Free Syrian Army said it is the president himself who is being unrealistic.

(SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) FREE SYRIAN ARMY SPOKESMAN AHMED KASSEM SAYING:

"When he (the president) speaks about the possibility of creating a buffer zone as being unrealistic, whereas approximately, more than 60 percent of Syria is now freed, we feel that he is living on another planet. Maybe he is not living in Syria, or maybe he is not aware of what is really happening on the ground."

The bloody 17-month-old uprising against Assad has killed more than 18,000 people, according to the United Nations.