Syria forces shell Homs as fighting rages: NGO

A spokesman for Kofi Annan says Syrian Government should make a gesture of good faith by implementing ceasefire first.

Annan says he expects the Syrian Government forces to implement the ceasefire immediately.

"The deadline is now," his spokesman said.

Homes searched, burned

Beirut: Syrian forces on Friday shelled rebel bastions in the central city of Homs and launched assaults in northwestern Idlib province, where they searched and burned homes, monitors said.

Shells rained down on the Bab Tadmor, Bustan Al Diwane, Hamadiyeh and Al Safsafa neighbourhoods of Homs, a main rebel bastion which has been the focus of much of the military's crackdown on anti-regime protests, they said.

Two people were killed near Bsas village, in Homs province, when the car in which they were travelling was fired upon, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

In Idlib province, security forces set alight four houses during raids in the town of Maaret Al Numan, the Britain-based group said.

Before dawn, fighting broke out between the armed forces and rebel fighters in the towns of Harasta and Irbin, in Damascus province after insurgents fired rocket-propelled grenades at a security post.

Fierce fighting was also reported in the provinces of Hama, in central Syria, and Deir Ezzor in the east, said the Local Coordination Committees, which organises anti-regime protests.