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 have heavily shelled a rebel-held neighbourhood in the flashpoint central city of Homs as the military appeared to be readying to storm the area, activists said.

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

Red Cross teams handed out food, blankets and medical kits to desperate Syrians in central Homs province.

Syrian forces launched a fresh assault on Homs today as the Red Cross pressed forward with efforts to deliver badly needed aid to thousands of people stranded in a besieged neighbourhood despite warnings from regime troops of land mines and booby traps.

US secretary of state Hillary Clinton has blasted Russia and China’s opposition to UN Security Council action on Syria, calling it “despicable”.

The head of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent branch in the northern town of Idlib has been shot dead, the International Committee of the Red Cross says.