Pro-regime forces reportedly killed at least 83 Syrian civilians on Saturday, with 17 dead in the flashpoint southern city of Daraa and 29 in the central city of Homs.

Nine women and three children were among those killed in a pre-dawn bombardment of a residential neighbourhood of Daraa, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Dozens more were wounded, some of them seriously, in the city which was the birthplace of the uprising against president Bashar al-Assad, according to the British-based watchdog.

In the restive city of Homs, government forces pounded the Khaldiyeh, Jouret Al-Shiyah, Al-Qrabis and Qusayr neighbourhoods with artillery and mortars in an attempt to regain control.

The observatory says 29 people were killed in the bombardment, which lasted from shortly after midnight into Saturday morning.

The fighting comes a day after United Nations monitors entered the village of Kubeir, where at least 78 people were massacred on Wednesday.

BBC journalist Paul Denahar, who is travelling with a UN convoy, described a hellish scene at the village where it appears pro-government militia tried to cover up the massacre.

UN monitors were unable to access the village on Thursday, held back by small arms fire while the perpetrators allegedly burned the bodies of the victims.

UN chief Ban Ki-moon told the Security Council that preliminary evidence showed that troops had surrounded Kubeir and militia entered the village and killed civilians with "barbarity".

The government denied responsibility and blamed foreign-backed "terrorists", as it has done repeatedly in the past.

More than 13,500 people have been killed since the uprising erupted, according to the observatory's figures.

On Friday, a total of 68 people were killed nationwide, according to the watchdog. They consisted of 36 civilians, 25 soldiers and seven rebel fighters.

Fighting between government troops and rebels has intensified in recent days, particularly in the capital Damascus, where two army defectors were among the seven rebels killed on Friday.

Russian support

The deaths come amid among growing international anger over the bloodshed.

Russia said on Saturday it would be "only glad" to support the departure of president Bashar al-Assad if Syrians agreed on it, without wanting to impose on the process from the outside.

"If the Syrians agree on this with each other, we will be only glad to support such an outcome," said foreign minister Sergei Lavrov, adding that Moscow did not want to "impose the conditions of dialogue from outside".

Britain, France and the United States are in the process of drawing up a Security Council resolution proposing sanctions against Syria over the worsening conflict.

But Mr Lavrov said Russia would not approve the use of force against the Syrian regime.

Russia, along with China, has vetoed two Security Council resolutions against Mr Assad and have vowed to oppose any military intervention.

Former UN chief Kofi Annan, the author of a fledgling peace plan on Syria, called on Friday for "additional pressure" in the wake of the Kubeir massacre as he held talks in the United States.

AFP