Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is in Syria for talks with President Bashar al-Assad amid a renewed government assault on rebel forces.
Mr Lavrov was greeted by pro-Assad crowds as he arrived in Damascus. The visit comes after Russia and China vetoed a Western-backed UN resolution criticising the crackdown in Syria.
Turkey has said it will start a new international initiative on Syria.
The Syrian army has been pounding the rebel stronghold of Homs for days.
The BBC's Paul Wood - one of the only foreign reporters in Homs - says the Syrian army started firing artillery at about 06:00 local time (04:00 GMT) on Tuesday.
He says residents fear troops are planning to launch a ground assault. Army tanks are moving closer to the city centre, a resident told the BBC.
Hundreds are reported to have died since the heavy shelling began on Friday. At least 95 people were killed on Monday alone, activists say.
The opposition has voiced strong criticism of the stalemate at the UN, saying the Russian and Chinese vetoes on Saturday encouraged the Syria government to step up the assault on Homs.
Cut off
Thousands of President Assad's supporters lined the streets of Damascus and waved flags as Mr Lavrov's motorcade drove through the city.
Mr Lavrov has said Western reaction condemning Russia's veto of the UN Security Council resolution on Saturday bordered on "hysteria".
Moscow has said the draft - which backed an Arab League peace plan calling for President Assad to hand over power - would have forced regime change on Syria.
Mr Lavrov's office said he was heading to Damascus because Moscow sought "the swiftest stabilisation of the situation in Syria".
US State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland urged Mr Lavrov to "use this opportunity to make absolutely clear to the Assad regime how isolated it is and to encourage Assad and his people to make use of the Arab League plan and provide for a transition".
Russia is the main supplier of arms to Damascus. The Syrian port of Tartus is home to Russia's only Mediterranean naval base.
Meanwhile Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan told MPs in Ankara: "We will start a new initiative with those countries who stand by the Syrian people, not the regime."
The Syrian government, which has been fighting an uprising against President Assad's rule since March, says it is fighting foreign-backed armed gangs.
Thousands of former army soldiers have defected to the rebel side, forming the Free Syrian Army.
Syria's interior ministry said operations against "terrorist groups" would continue until "security and order are restored" in Homs.
Supportive wife
Homs activist Mohammed al-Hassan told Reuters news agency that Tuesday's bombardment was mostly concentrated on the restive Baba Amr district.
"There is no electricity and all communications with the neighbourhood has been cut," he added.
Meanwhile, the president's UK-born wife, Asma Assad, has expressed her support for her husband.
An email sent to Britain's Times newspaper from her office said: "The president is the president of Syria, not a faction of Syrians, and the first lady supports him in that role."
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called the escalating violence in Syria "totally unacceptable before humanity", his spokesman Martin Nesirky said.
He urged "all concerned in Syria" and the international community to redouble efforts to try to stop the violence.
Human rights groups and activists say more than 7,000 people have been killed by Syrian security forces since the uprising began last March.
The UN stopped estimating the death toll in Syria after it passed 5,400 in January, saying it was too difficult to confirm.
President Assad's government says at least 2,000 members of the security forces have been killed.
No comments:
Post a Comment