Dubai: The Syrian regime on Thursday heavily attacked a suburb of Damascus as observers say the regime is getting more "nervous" as fighting has reached its doorstep in the capital.

Syrian troops rounded up Douma residents in house-to-house raids. Just days before, the Free Syria army pushed its way closer to the capital.

"Many defecting soldiers joined protesters, but yesterday the situation changed when scores of tanks came from the capital to squash the protests," Douma resident Ali Al Doumani said.

Just 16 kilometres away in downtown Damascus, thousands of people waved Syrian flags and shouted support for Syrian President Bashar Al Assad. However, the situation in the restive city of Homs was grim yesterday as the pro-regime Shabiha militia looted and burned homes.

Sources from Syria said it was not possible to give figures for people killed or injured yesterday because communications were lost with many in the troubled area.

"It is clear that the number of killed people is way over 50," a source in the London-based Syrian Revolution office told Gulf News.

"It is the scorched earth policy adopted by the regime in the 11th month of the revolution," Hadi Al Abdullah, spokesman of the Coordination Committee of Syrian Revolution told Gulf News.

UN intervention

The United Nations meanwhile has said it could no longer keep track of the death toll as they have no access to certain closed off areas in the country. Arab League chief Nabeel Al Arabi urged Damascus yesterday to immediately end military operations against "defenceless civilians" saying the continued violence was claiming innocent victims.

Al Arabi along with Qatari Prime Minister Shaikh Hamad Bin Jasem Al Thani will go to UN headquarters in New York tomorrow to push the Syria issue.

Meanwhile, politicians backed Arab League calls to resolve the crisis.

Lebanese Druze leader and MP Walid Junblatt stressed yesterday that the Arab League deal was the only solution available after holding talks in Moscow with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

"Russia must understand the demands of the Syrian people," he said.

Speaking in Davos, Tunisia's Foreign Minister Rafik Abdul Salem urged the Syrian regime to "listen to its people."

"Syrians are not different from Tunisians or Egyptians. It's a real revolution. The Syrians want real political reforms, real democracy," he said.

Meanwhile, Russia said it will continue to promote its own draft resolution on Syria in the UN Security Council, Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said yesterday. The remarks indicated that a western-Arab draft resolution supporting a plan for Al Assad to step aside will be a tough sell for Russia, a veto-wielding council member, but he did not rule out a compromise.