UN Security Council urged to act on Syria as violence continues

A top United Nations official on Tuesday urged the Security Council to pressure the Syrian government and rebels to stop the violence, which could spiral out of control, DPA reported.

UN Assistant Secretary General for Political Affairs Oscar Fernandez-Taranco said international envoy Kofi Annan and some governments had been holding talks with Syrian parties and those discussion should yield "real results soon."

"Otherwise we may be reaching the day when it will be too late to stop the crisis from spiraling out of control," he said.

Fernandez-Taranco also said "well over" one million Syrians were now dependent on aid because of the intensified conflict.

A peace plan by Annan has failed to end the conflicts, which increasingly resembles a civil war.Opposition activists said on Tuesday government forces continued to shell rebellious areas, killing at least 20 people.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Barack Obama, who met on the sidelines of the G20 Economic Summit in Mexico on Monday, issued a joint call for an end to violence in Syria, saying they had found some common ground in "candid" discussions.

Russia and China, Syria's main allies who have blocked to resolutions on Syria at the UN Security Council, are under increasing pressure from the West to stop supporting President Bashar al-Assad.

The British Foreign Office said a Russian ship suspected of carrying attack helicopters and missiles for Syria was prevented from continuing its journey after an intervention from the government.

The Foreign Office confirmed a report in the Daily Telegraph newspaper that British marine insurer Standard Club had withdrawn cover from MV Alaed, a ship owned by Russian cargo line Femco, at the behest of the government.

Russia, Syria's main arms supplier, has denied supplying al-Assad with weapons that can be used in the conflict with rebels.

The UN on Saturday suspended an observer mission monitoring a ceasefire brokered by Annan, citing a surge in violence.

Mission chief General Robert Mood will later on Tuesday brief the UN Security Council in New York.

Meanwhile, the Syrian government blamed rebels for civilians trapped by fighting in the central city of Homs.

The state-run news agency SANA quoted a government source as accusing rebel fighters of using women and children as "human shields."

The city and surrounding towns have been under shelling for the past ten days as government forces try to regain control of areas captured by rebels.

The opposition Syrian National Council has said that Homs is besieged by 30,000 government troops and militias.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said government forces shelled the Damascus suburb of Douma. It added that oil pipelines were attacked in the eastern province of Deir al-Zour and in Homs.

SANA said that pumping operations were halted after an explosion in Deir al-Zour.

In the northwestern province of Idlib, fierce clashes broke out between government forces and rebels in a village on the Syrian-Turkish border. Local activists said government troops used artillery and warplanes.