Syrian security forces stormed Thursday areas in the central restive province of Homs under a barrage of heavy shelling, opposition activists based in Lebanon told dpa.
"The Syrian forces attacked the Bab Amr neighbourhood in Homs," Omar Idlibi, one of the activists, told dpa.
"Initial reports are saying that several houses in the area were set ablaze and dozens of people were injured, including a five-year-old child," he said.
"Since Wednesday some 19 people have been killed in Homs," Idlibi said.
The renewed crackdown came a day after an Arab League delegation met in Damascus with President Bashar al-Assad in a fresh bid to end the violence in the country.
The delegation, which was set up by the pan-Arab organization on October 16, reportedly presented to al-Assad a plan to implement a ceasefire, release detainees and begin talks between the Syrian government and the opposition.
The United Nations estimates that more than 3,000 people, including 187 children, have been killed in the Syrian government?s clampdown on pro-democracy protests, which started in mid-March.
Reports coming out of Syria cannot be independently verified as the authorities have foreign media from the country.