Several districts of the city
of Homs came under attack on Tuesday, activists say
The head of the UN observer mission
in Syria has told the Security Council the observers were targeted by hostile
crowds and gunfire before his decision to suspend operations, diplomats say.
They say Maj Gen Robert Mood said his 300 unarmed monitors had had at least 10 direct fire incidents, and nine vehicles were struck in the last week.
But he said his move did not mean the mission was abandoning Syrian people.
His comments come as government troops reportedly shelled several towns.
Opposition sources said that the town of Rastan in Homs province bombarded the town of Rastan in Homs province and areas near the capital Damascus.
They said at least people reportedly died in Damascus' suburb of Douma.
The Local Co-ordination Committees (LCC), a network of activists in Syria, said Rastan had come under "fierce and continuous bombing" on Tuesday morning.
The LCC also reported "intense mortar shelling" in Qudsiya - another Damascus suburb.
Meanwhile, the Syrian government said it was willing to facilitate the evacuation of hundreds of civilians reportedly trapped by fighting in Homs.
Maj Gen Mood had earlier admitted "attempts to extract civilians" from the besieged city of Homs over the past week had been unsuccessful and urged warring parties to let them leave.
The government was willing "to extract the citizens... without any preconditions", but "armed terrorist groups' obstructions" meant this had not happened, the Syrian foreign ministry told state-run news agency Sana.
Russian role
Also on Tuesday, British marine insurance company Standard Club said it had withdrawn insurance from a Russian ship, the MV Alaed, because of the possibility it was carrying weapons to Syria.
"We were made aware of the allegations that the Alaed was carrying munitions destined for Syria. We have informed the ship owner that their cover ceased automatically in view of the nature of their voyage," the company said in a statement.
Opposition activists in Syria
have condemned Russia's support for the regime during protests The UK's Foreign Office said it was "aware of a ship carrying a consignment of refurbished Russian-made attack helicopters heading to Syria.
"The Foreign Secretary made clear to Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov when they met on 14 June that all defence shipments to Syria must stop," a Foreign Office spokesperson said.
"We are working closely with international partners to ensure that we are doing all we can to stop the Syrian regime's ability to slaughter civilians being reinforced through assistance from other countries," the spokesperson added.
Scottish authorities said the ship's course now appeared to be taking it back to Russia.
However, on Tuesday, Russian foreign ministry spokesman Dmitry Peskov denied Russia was "selling or delivering" helicopters to Syria, saying Russian specialists were only maintaining helicopters sold to Syria "a very long time ago".
The Russian defence ministry meanwhile denied reports that the ship Kaliningrad, part of the Baltic Fleet, was preparing for a trip in the Mediterranean, including the Syrian port of Tartus.
However, the ministry did not comment on an earlier report by Russian news agency Interfax saying two amphibious vessels were apparently on a mission to protect Russian citizens and remove equipment if necessary from the naval base in Tartus.
BBC defence correspondent Jonathan Marcus says that, if confirmed, the deployment of the ships suggests the Russians are taking prudent precautions in the event of the Syrian regime collapsing.
'Common points'
US President Barack Obama's
administration has been urging Russia to put pressure on Syria After a meeting on the sidelines of the G20 summit on Monday, US President Barack Obama and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin urged an immediate end to violence in Syria.
In a joint statement following their first meeting since Mr Putin returned to the presidency, they said they shared a belief that Syrians should determine their own future.
Mr Putin said the two countries had found "many common points" on Syria.
The two countries have been at odds over how to resolve the crisis.
Russia and China have twice blocked US-backed UN draft resolutions critical of Syria.
Both countries argue that pushing the government from power using external pressure is unacceptable.
Correspondents say there were no smiles between Mr Obama and Mr Putin during the news conference, and their interactions seemed stiff and strained.
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