Government forces bombarded rebellious regions across Syria Saturday, ahead of a meeting by the United Nations Security Council in New York to vote on a resolution that would expand the number of UN-ceasefire observers in the country.
Dozens of mortar shells fell on the regions of al-Kussair and al-Khalidiyeh, without casualties, but destroying at least three houses, activist Omar Homsi, told dpa from the area, dpa reported.
Activists in the capital Damascus told dpa that the area of al-Ghaboun witnessed heavy machine gunfire and a wave of arrests at dawn by security forces.
In the northern province of Idlib, shells fell on areas near the border with Turkey.
Meanwhile, the UN Security Council was scheduled to meet later Saturday and vote on a resolution that would expand the number of the UN ceasefire observers in Syria from 30 to 300.
The 15-member Security Council approved earlier this month the deployment of an advance team of 30 monitors, some of which are already in Syria, to monitor the shaky ceasefire which went into effect on April 12, and to prepare logistics for a larger UN team to be deployed in the country.
According to Arab media the final UN text calls on the Syrian government and the opposition to immediately halt all violence and urgently implement a peace plan drafted by UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan to end the bloodshed.
According to UN estimates, over 9,000 people have been killed in the unrest which broke out 13 months ago in Syria as the government crackdown on its opponents.
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