Air strikes have targeted oil installations and other facilities in territory under the control of Islamic State (IS) militants in eastern Syria for a second consecutive day, activists have said.

Islamic State (IS) fighters backed by tanks have captured 16 Kurdish villages over the past 24 hours in northern Syria near the Turkish border, prompting civilians to flee their homes amid fears of retribution by the extremists sweeping through the area, activists said.

Islamic State fighters have broken through the defences of a major military air base in north-eastern Syria, activists said.

Thousands of Sunni Muslims fled a Syrian coastal town today, a day after reports circulated that dozens of people, including children, had been killed by pro-government gunmen in the area, activists said.

Activists are reporting intense clashes in north-western Syria as rebels attack a sprawling military air base.

Syrian officials have denied US claims that government forces have used chemical weapons against rebels.

Six days of fighting in a Damascus suburb has killed more than a hundred people and possibly many more, activists said today, in what the government also acknowledged may be a dramatic spike in the rising death toll in Syria.

Syrian warplanes and artillery have hit targets near Damascus International Airport, following a bloody day of attacks in the Syrian capital that killed dozens and struck deep into President Bashar Assad’s seat of power.

Heavy fighting for control of the international airport in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo and a major military air base nearby has killed some 150 rebels and government soldiers over the past two days, activists say.

Intense fighting between Syrian government troops and rebels trying to tighten their siege of two military bases in the north-east was reported by activists today.

Syrian government troops have killed dozens of people in the central city of Homs, activists said today.

Syrian troops and rebels fought intense battles today around a strategic air base in the country’s north and a suburb of the capital that government forces have been trying to capture since last month, reports say.

Syrian rebels strengthened their hold on an oil-rich province bordering Iraq today, activists said, capturing a key military base which was considered one of the last bastions for President Bashar Assad’s loyalists in the strategic region.

Syrian rebels have seized a key military base with artillery stockpiles in the country’s east, activists say.

The leadership of Syria’s main opposition bloc in exile, the Syrian National Council, has become an all-male affair after elections failed to promote a single woman to a decision-making group of 41.

Syrian troops have shelled rebel-held areas and clashed with anti-government gunmen in several parts of the country despite an internationally mediated ceasefire, according to activists.

Syrian troops have bombed a northern town near the Turkish border, killing at least 12 people, activists said today.

Syrian planes have bombed two buildings in the northern city of Aleppo, killing at least five people.

At least 30 people were killed and dozens of others injured when an air strike by Syrian forces hit a gas station in the north of the country and triggered an explosion.

A Syrian military helicopter has crashed in a rebellious suburb of Damascus, state-run TV says.

Syrian jets have fired on Lebanese territory in one of the most serious cross-border violations since the country was plunged into turmoil 18 months ago.

The head of the main Syrian opposition group has called for a massive aid programme to help rebuild his country, if president Bashar Assad is overthrown.

Syrian government troops are shelling neighbourhoods in the capital Damascus after overnight clashes with rebel fighters, activists said.

Evidence mounted of a new massacre in Syria’s deepening civil war, with activists reporting a killing spree by government forces after they seized the suburb of Daraya from rebel control three days ago.

Government forces pummelled the battered city of Aleppo with airstrikes and tanks and shelled parts of Damascus and southern Syria yesterday, killing at least 100 people during a major Muslim holiday, rights groups and activists said.

Six people, including two women and two children, have been killed in fighting between rebels and regime forces in the southern Syrian city of Daraa, activist groups said today.

Syrian President Bashar Assad has appointed a new prime minister to replace one who defected this week to neighbouring Jordan.

Syrian troops clashed with rebels in the city of Aleppo for a second day today, forcing inhabitants to flee to safer areas in some of the fiercest fighting to date in the heart of the country’s northern commercial hub, activists said.

At least 43 people have died in two days of Government shelling of a rebellious suburb of the Syrian capital Damascus, activists say.

Syria’s elite Republican Guard has clashed with rebels outside Damascus in some of the most intense fighting involving the special forces since the uprising against president Bashar Assad began.

Syrian troops have shelled rebel-held areas and clashed with opposition fighters in several locations across the country today, activists said.

At least 10 people were killed when a mortar round hit an anti-government demonstration in an eastern Syrian city today, activists said.

International envoy Kofi Annan said today he was “gravely concerned” about the latest violence in Syria, citing shelling of opposition areas in Homs and reports of mortar, helicopter and tank attacks near the coast.

Syrian troops and helicopters are clashing with rebels in the central town of Rastan, activists said today.

Explosions echoed over Damascus today as Syrian troops clashed with rebels in some of the heaviest fighting yet in the capital in the 15-month uprising against President Bashar Assad.

Syrian troops are shelling the rebel-held neighbourhood of Khaldiyeh in the central city of Homs, according to activists.

Syrian authorities have today denied the reports of a new massacre as "absolutely baseless".

Syrian activists reported a surge of bloodshed in the central Hama province, with at least 23 people killed - and possibly many more.

Syrian troops today shelled the central region of Houla where more than 100 people were massacred last week, activists said.

Syrian security forces have stormed student dorms at a university in the north west after anti-government protests, killing at least four students and wounding several others, activists and opposition groups said.

United Nations observers have inspected the site of an explosion which flattened a block of houses in the central Syrian city of Hama and killed at least 16 people, while the government and the opposition blamed each other for the blast.

A massive explosion has rocked a residential area in the Syrian city of Hama, killing at least 16 people, according to the state news agency.

An advance team of six UN observers has arrived in the Syrian capital to monitor the country’s ceasefire, which appeared to be rapidly unravelling today as regime forces pounded the opposition stronghold of Homs with artillery shells and mortars, activists said.

Activists say Syrian troops are shelling neighbourhoods in the opposition stronghold of Homs, hours after the arrival of a first team of UN truce monitors to Damascus.