While the diplomatic wheels turned, violence continued unabated throughout the country, which has appeared in recent weeks to be sliding inexorably into civil war. Activists said that at least 29 people were killed Thursday, 28 of them in Homs in central Syria and its surrounding villages, and one in Talkalakh in northern Syria, according to the Local Coordination Committees, a group of activists who are involved in planning and documenting the uprising.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that at least 11 soldiers were also killed in Houla, a village on the outskirts of Homs, during clashes with army defectors. The group, which is based in London, added that security forces killed 15 defectors who were hiding in Rastan, one of the most volatile areas of Homs Province, where large numbers of the deserters are believed to be hiding.

Homs has been the scene of horrific sectarian clashes between the majority Muslims and sizable minorities of Christians and Alawites, the Muslim sect that provides much of the country’s leadership. In recent weeks there have been reports of beheadings, frequent drive-by shootings and revenge killings. The situation there is described by activists as grave, with shortages of food, water and medical supplies.

“We are running out of basic food items and don’t have gas to turn heaters on,” said one resident from Homs who gave his name as Muhammad. “We don’t know how we are going to survive.”

Because of the appalling conditions in Homs and some other rebellious cities, the government is reluctant to admit the monitors, said Samir Nachar, a member of the opposition Syrian National Council.

At the same time, he said, the Syrian government is desperate to avoid having the issue taken up again by the United Nations, which has yet to impose sanctions.

“They are torn between allowing the monitors in and facing a scandal, or not allowing them and facing the United Nations” and the Arab League’s sanctions, Mr. Nachar said.