The UN observers' spokesperson expressed Monday "deep concerns" over the deteriorating situation in the conflict-battered Homs province in central Syria, following reports of severe clashes there between armed rebels and Syrian troops.

UN observers reported that there was heavy fighting in Rastan and Talbiseh in Homs, Suasan Ghosheh told reporters Monday afternoon.

"The UN supervision mission is very concerned with the escalation in violence in Homs," she said, adding that "UN observers reported the use of heavy artillery and mortar shelling as well as firing from helicopters, machine guns and small arms."

In Talbiseh, Ghosheh said, UN observers also reported that the rebel Free Syrian Army had captured soldiers from the regular Syrian army, adding that heavy artillery shelling and machine gun firing were also heard.

In another town of Homs, al-Khalidieh, the spokesperson said the observers also received reports that a large number of civilians have been trapped inside the town "and we are trying to mediate their evacuation to a safe place."

She, however, stressed that the mission has not yet been able to confirm the large-scale killing and casualties in Homs. She said the UN supervision mission is calling on all sides to halt all kinds of violence to ensure the protection of all civilians and to allow for their evacuation to safe areas.

"We also call on all parties to exercise maximum restraint and to facilitate the entry of UN observers into conflict zone," she said.
Activist groups said Monday that Syrian troops attacked the town of Rastan with helicopter gunships and bombarded other areas nationwide.

The activists' network Local Coordination Committees said as many as 33 people were killed across Syria Monday. Their report was impossible to be independently verified.

Syria's mainstream media said 10 people were killed across Syria Monday by attacks of armed groups. It said five people were killed by the blast of a roadside bomb in northwestern Idlib province and the other five in an assault on law-enforcement forces in coastal Latakia province.

Pro-government al-Ekhbaria TV said its cameraman was shot in the chest by armed groups in the mountainous area of Haffeh near coastal Latakia city Monday.

Haffeh has been the scene of armed conflicts since last Tuesday. Sources said armed rebels are trying to take control of the area, which has prompted severe clashes with the Syrian army.

The UN-Arab League special envoy to Syria Kofi Annan expressed worries Monday about the escalation of violence in the unrest-torn country, especially after reports of use of mortar shells and tanks in Homs and Haffeh, according a statement issued by Annan's spokesman Ahamd Fawzi.

The United Nations estimates that over 9,000 people have died in Syria's 15-month-old unrest, while the Syrian authorities maintain that they are fighting foreign-backed armed groups and over 2,000 troops were killed during armed attacks on government establishments.

VietNamNet/Xinhuanet