Almost 93,000 people have been confirmed killed in the Syrian conflict, but the real number is likely to be far higher, the UN says.

Syrian warplanes bombed rebel areas near Damascus today as President Bashar Assad’s troops battled opposition fighters for control of the road linking the capital to the country’s largest airport.

An Islamist suicide car bomber killed at least 50 Syrian security men in Hama province, an opposition group said, in what would be one of the bloodiest single attacks on president Bashar al-Assad’s forces in a 20-month-old uprising.

United Nations observers smelled the stench of burned corpses and saw body parts scattered around a Syrian farming hamlet that was the site of a massacre in which nearly 80 men, women and children were reported to have been killed.

The United Nations secretary general has warned that the danger of civil war in Syria is imminent, with “catastrophic” consequences for the region.

UN observers yesterday came under fire as they tried to reach the site of the latest reported mass killing in Syria — about 80 people, including women and children who were shot or stabbed. The deaths added urgency to diplomatic efforts to end the escalating bloodshed.

China and Russia have said that they willl veto any UN mandate for military action in Syria.

United Nations observers have been blocked by Syrian troops from the site of a new mass killing, the head of the monitoring team said today.

Syria’s foreign minister has said the government has already withdrawn some forces from several cities, and stated that the UN-brokered ceasefire must start at the same time as the deployment of international observers.

Arab League observers in Syria have come under fresh scrutiny after a former monitor called their mission a "farce."