Russia-Arab meet on Syria set for March 10, Lavrov says

Moscow: Russia will meet with foreign ministers of Arab states to discuss the Syria crisis in Cairo on March 10, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Monday.

"I especially value today's chance to prepare for a meeting of the foreign ministers of Russia and the Arab League states that will be held in Cairo on March 10," news agencies quoted Lavrov as saying after talks with his Jordanian counterpart Nasser Judeh.

China sending envoy to Syria to urge cease-fire

China says it will send another envoy to Syria in a bid to convince the Al Assad regime of the need for a cease-fire, and to emphasize that it remains against outside intervention.

The Foreign Ministry said Monday that former ambassador to Syria Li Huaqing would visit Damascus on Tuesday and Wednesday.

That announcement followed the release Sunday of a Chinese proposal calling for an immediate cease-fire in Syria and talks by all parties but standing firm against any intervention by outside forces.

China has being roundly criticized by the U.S. and others for joining Russia in vetoing a U.N. resolution on ending Syria's ongoing violence. That plan similarly called for an end to hostilities, but Beijing feared it would open the door to intervention against President Bashar Al Assad's authoritarian government, as it had in Libya.

Heavy fighting overnight

Amman: Heavy fighting broke out overnight between armoured forces loyal to President Bashar Al Assad and rebels who launched coordinated attacks on army roadblocks across the southern city of Deraa on the border with Jordan, opposition activists said on Monday.

The reports of the fighting in Deraa, where the uprising against Al Assad's rule began last March, could not be independently verified.

But opposition sources say rebels loosely organised under the Free Syrian Army banner have intensified assaults on loyalist targets in southern, north and eastern Syria in the last few days to relieve pressure in the city of Homs, where troops overran the rebel district of Baba Amro last week.

Shooting at nylon bags

"The Free Syrian Army attacked several roadblocks and street fortifications simultaneously. Tanks are responding by firing 14 mm anti-aircraft guns into residential neighbourhoods and army snipers are shooting at everything that moves, even nylon bags," Maher Abdul Haq, one of the activists, told Reuters from Deraa.

"About 20 buses carrying troops were seen heading from the football stadium in the north to the southern sector the city on the border (with Jordan)," he added.

An army offensive last April put down large demonstrations in Deraa, which had been provoked by the arrest of several women activists and the detention of schoolboys who had written freedom slogans on walls, inspired by Arab Spring revolts in other countries.

Tanks stormed Deraa again in mid-February to stamp out Free Syrian Army rebels in the city and remained deployed there, residents and opposition activists said.