Syrian activists on Saturday appealed to United Nations observers to evacuate civilians injured in shelling attacks by government forces on the central city of Homs, dpa reported.
"This is an urgent appeal for UN observers to enter Homs and save scores of the people who have sustained serious injuries from constant shelling that has targeted the city since Monday," Haytham Abu Saleh, a Syrian activist, told dpa.
More than 200 wounded people are in need of urgent medical assistance, he said.
The observers have been in Syria since April under a three-month mandate to monitor a UN-brokered ceasefire that never took hold.
UN team chief Major General Robert Mood warned on Friday that rising violence was derailing the mission.
Activists said government troops shelled the neighbourhood of al-Khalidiyeh and the old quarter in the city of Homs in preparation for an incursion to flush out rebels with the Free Syrian Army.
At least seven civilians, including three women, were killed in an attack by regime forces on suburban areas of the capital Damascus, opposition activists said.
Two rebels were killed in battles with soldiers in the southern province of Daraa, they added.