(Wikimedia Commons)

Fighting raged throughout the country Thursday. Homs was the site of a similar massacre in 2011, which was also carried out by Assad's forces and pro-Assad militias.

One opposition activist said that because rebel forces of the Free Syria Army attacked a military academy near Homs, and Assad's forces punished the civilians "for allowing the rebels to enter the area."

Read more of Neon Tommy's coverage of the conflict in Syria here.

Reach Executive Producer Cara Palmer here; follow her here.