Syrian rebel city of Homs turns to ghost town

(CBS News) The U.N. warned Monday that Syria's dictator is planning a possible attack on a village not far from the scenes of two recent massacres.

Bashar al Assad is out to crush a rebellion that broke out more than 15 months ago.

Human rights groups say that, last month in Houla, pro-government militias killed more than a hundred people, mostly women and children. Dozens more were killed last week in Qubeir, and there were battles throughout Syria Monday.

It's extremely difficult to get a reporter into the country, but CBS News correspondent Elizabeth Palmer is there.

Just back from the rebel city of Homs, Palmer says the city about the size of Philadelphia looks empty.

"It looks empty because hundreds of thousands of people have left because the fighting has been so heavy," Palmer said. "We could hear mortar and rocket fire gun battles going on. It was impossible to see who was shooting at whom but we know that that area is controlled by the armed opposition fighters and they are mounting offenses there against the Syrian forces who are fighting back."

Palmer went on to say the many of the rebel fighters are army deserters who have returned home to fight the Assad regime.