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

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.

Syrian troops have shelled rebel-held neighbourhoods in the city of Homs, a day after the UN General Assembly condemned human rights violations by the regime.

Twenty-five people have been killed and 175 wounded in two explosions that targeted security compounds in the northern city of Aleppo, Syrian media reports.

ARAB League monitors investigated activist claims that government troops in Hama fired at thousands of unarmed protesters and killed at least six.