Russia sends two warships to Syrian coast

A Russian news agency announced that Moscow sent 2 warships to the Syrian coast on Monday.     

Meanwhile, the head of the United Nations observation mission, General Robert Mood, is scheduled on Tuesday to brief the U.N. Security Council in New York on the violence in Syria.
   
The mission recently halted its operations due to security concerns, and Mood said on Sunday he was worried about civilians trapped in central Homs.
   
"In Homs attempts to extract civilians form the line of fire over the past week have been unsuccessful," he said in a statement. "This requires willingness on both sides (of the conflict) to respect and protect the human life of the Syrian people."

In turn, Bernard Valero, a spokesman for the French foreign ministry, said the "relentless repression of the regime, and in particular in the city of Homs" meant it was more necessary than ever for the United Nations to enforce Kofi Annan's failing peace plan.
       
In Geneva, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said the government's use of heavy arms and shelling in populated areas could amount to war crimes, and called on the international community to act.
   
"I urge the international community to overcome its divisions and work to end the violence and human rights violations to which the people of Syria have been subjected," she said.

In the field, security forces continued shelling the central city of Homs, and the town of Qudsiya in Damascus countryside is still subject to fierce bombing and gunfire.      

Four people were killed including an opposition battalion commander in an explosion that rocked the city of Mohassan in the province of Deir el-Zour, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.       

The observatory added in a statement that bombing and gunfire were renewed in Homs, as explosions were heard in the neighborhood of Khalidiya. Gunfire was also reported in different neighborhoods across the city.        

Some regions in Damascus countryside witnessed violent clashes and shelling Sunday night into Monday, mainly the cities of Qudsiya and Douma which has been the scene of bombing for the past 5 days.

REUTERS/LBCI