Heavy shelling in Syria ahead of Russian foreign minister's visit

Feb 7, 2012, 8:03 GMT

Beirut - Syrian forces bombarded several dissident areas on Tuesday, hours before Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was due to meet President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus.

Two people died after the Zabadani area on the outskirts of Damascus was shelled, opposition activists based in northern Lebanon told dpa.

Activists in Homs said the fierce assault on the neighbourhoods of Baba Amr and al-Khalidiyeh continued early Tuesday.

The opposition Local Coordination Committees said more than 100 people, including 19 children, were killed in the central province of Homs on Monday.

Syrian state-run media blamed 'terrorist gangs' for shelling areas in Homs on Monday.

Lavrov, who will be accompanied by Foreign Intelligence Service chief Mikhail Fradkov, is to urge al-Assad to implement political reforms and end the unrest that started mid-March.

Russia, a major arms supplier to Syria and its main ally, and China have been severely criticized for their double veto of a United Nations Security Council resolution at the weekend, which was aimed at ending the violence by urging al-Assad to step down.

On Monday, the United States closed its embassy in Damascus because of concerns over the worsening security situation in Syria.

Syrian authorities have repeatedly accused 'terrorists' financed by the West and Arab countries of destabilizing the country.

According to the last United Nations estimate in January, more than 5,400 people have died in the Syrian regime's crackdown on pro-democracy activists since mid-March. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which regularly updates the number of casualties, says more than 6,800 people have died.