International envoy and former UN chief Kofi Annan left Syria without a deal to end the bloody year-old conflict as regime forces mounted a new assault on rebel strongholds in the north.

Kofi Annan has ended his trip to Syria without a deal as regime forces mount a new assault on rebel strongholds in the north.

Syria has launched a long-anticipated assault to crush the opposition in the rebellious north, bombarding its main city with tank shells from all sides and clashing with rebel fighters struggling to hold back an invasion.

Syria launched a long-anticipated assault to crush the opposition in the rebellious north today, bombarding its main city with tank shells from all sides and clashing with rebel fighters struggling to hold back an invasion.

Syrian troops pushed ahead with a new assault on the northern region of Idlib today, shelling one of the centres of the uprising against President Bashar Assad’s rule.

UN envoy Kofi Annan was meeting Syria’s president Bashar Assad today to press for an end to the country’s year-long conflict.

Syria's deputy oil minister has announced his defection in an online video, making him the highest ranking official to abandon President Bashar Assad's regime since the country's uprising erupted a year ago.

The UN humanitarian chief entered the shattered Syrian district of Baba Amr, where activists accuse regime forces of trying to cover up evidence of execution-style killings and reprisal attacks following a bloody military siege.

United Nations humanitarian chief Valerie Amos has visited Baba Amr, becoming the first international official to enter the embattled Syrian district since fighting began.

UN humanitarian chief Valerie Amos headed to the shattered central Syrian city of Homs on Wednesday, where activists have accused regime forces of trying to cover up evidence of a month-long military assault and alleged execution-style killings.

Syrian troops have shelled a southern village and clashed with army defectors holed up inside in violence that killed a 15-year-old boy and five government soldiers, activists said.

China's special envoy to Syria is expected to press authorities for a ceasefire even as Beijing remains firmly opposed to any foreign intervention in the conflict.

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

Syrian artillery pounded the rebel city of Rastan yesterday, killing seven civilians, monitors said.

The bodies of Sunday Times reporter Marie Colvin and French photographer Remi Ochlik, killed in shelling while trapped in Syria, left the country on board a French plane to Paris.

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.

Syrian Red Crescent officials have handed over the bodies of two foreign journalists who were killed in Syria to embassy officials.

Arrangements are being made for the repatriation of a newspaper journalist killed in Syria after her body arrived in Damascus.

Troops are shelling several districts in the rebellious central Syrian city of Homs where the government is keeping a Red Cross convoy blocked from reaching thousands stranded in the area, activists have said.

The International Committee of the Red Cross has said it has recovered the bodies of two foreign journalists killed in Syria.

Syrian authorities have blocked an aid convoy carrying emergency supplies from entering the Baba Amr district in the city of Homs, the International Committee of the Red Cross says.

David Cameron accused Syrian president Bashar Assad’s “criminal” regime today of “butchering its own people”.

A Red Cross aid convoy carrying emergency supplies is heading to the Syrian city of Homs.

Two Western journalists killed in the Syrian city of Homs last week were buried in the embattled neighbourhood where they died, according to activist videos, while two other reporters escaped into neighbouring Lebanon.

Syrian rebels say they are making a “tactical retreat” from the besieged district of Baba Amr in Homs because of worsening humanitarian conditions.

The Syrian regime showed a new determination to crush its opponents, vowing to “cleanse” a rebel-held district in the besieged central city of Homs after nearly four weeks of shelling.

Spanish journalist Javier Espinosa has escaped the besieged Syrian city of Homs and is in neighbouring Lebanon, his partner says.

Syrian security forces are advancing on the rebel-held neighbourhood of Baba Amr in the city of Homs, an official says.

A wounded Western journalist working for The Sunday Times escaped from Syria after being trapped for days in the besieged city of Homs, activist groups said.

Two wounded Western journalists escaped from Syria today after being trapped for days in the besieged central city of Homs, activist groups said.

The UN’s human rights chief said today the situation in Syria had deteriorated rapidly in recent weeks and demanded an immediate humanitarian ceasefire.

Plans to evacuate two wounded journalists from a besieged Syrian town are beginning to take shape, French president Nicolas Sarkozy said today.

The Red Cross has made a further attempt to bring out people trapped in the besieged Syrian city of Homs, after a first successful rescue of civilians earlier.

The International Red Cross has started moving women and children from the worst-hit areas of the city Homs in Syria.

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

At least eight people have been reported killed in Syrian government shelling of rebel-held areas as the United States, Europe and Arab nations met in Tunisia to seek ways to end President Bashar Assad’s crackdown on the uprising.

Syrian government troops shelled rebel-held central areas today, killing at least four people, activists said, as the US, Europe and Arab nations met in Tunisia to seek ways to ease the crisis.

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.

Warnings from Syrian activists of a humanitarian catastrophe in Homs grew more desperate today as government forces resumed shelling an opposition stronghold in the city.

The editor of the Sunday Times paid tribute to “extraordinary” foreign correspondent Marie Colvin after she was killed in the besieged Syrian city of Homs today.

Two foreign journalists have been killed by Syrian government troops shelling the city of Homs, an opposition activist reported today.

The Red Cross has called for a daily two-hour ceasefire in Syria so that it can deliver emergency aid and reach people who are wounded or sick.

Syrian tanks and troops have massed outside the resistance stronghold of Homs for a possible ground assault that one activist warned could unleash a new round of fierce and bloody urban combat even as the Red Cross tried to broker a ceasefire to allow emergency aid in.

Syria’s military today sent tanks and other reinforcements towards the city of Homs in what appears to be preparations by President Bashar Assad’s regime for an offensive aimed at retaking rebel-held neighbourhoods, activists said.