Syrian troops pushed into a rebel-held town near the Lebanese border yesterday, fighting house-to-house and bombing from the air.

Syrian opposition activists have accused forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad of bombarding rebel areas, as a UN mission was expected to arrive in Damascus in a first step in the implementation of an international peace plan.

As tensions mounted further in Syria, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Arab League chief Nabil Elaraby last night appointed Kofi Annan, Ban's predecessor as joint special envoy on the Syrian crisis.

Syria yesterday flatly rejected UN charges of crimes against humanity, even as monitors said troops killed dozens of civilians in the heaviest shelling of the protest city of Homs for days.