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Syrian forces pressed a relentless assault on the protest city of Homs Wednesday, with dozens of civilians reported killed, hours after President Bashar al-Assad told Russia he was committed to ending the bloodshed.

The barrage of gunfire, mortars and shells came at daybreak and flattened many buildings in the flashpoint neighbourhood of Baba Amr, a stronghold of army defectors the regime is targeting for a fifth straight day.

Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said the overall toll amounted to around 50 dead, including three entire families slain overnight by regime-backed thugs known as Shabiha.

"We expect the death toll to rise ... given the fact that many victims remain under the rubble," Abdel Rahman told AFP.

The most intense shelling was in Baba Amr, where at least 23 buildings were completely destroyed, including a home hit by a rocket that killed a little girl.

All power and communications were cut off.

Activists in the besieged central city said the shelling of Baba Amr, Bayada, Karm el-Zeytoun, Khaldiyeh and Wadi Iran districts was a clear bid to pave the way for a ground assault.

"Since dawn the shelling has been extremely intense and they are using rockets and mortars," Omar Shaker, who was reached by satellite telephone from Beirut, told AFP.

"They have destroyed all infrastructure and bombed water tanks and electricity poles. The humanitarian situation is extremely dire and food is lacking.

"We are trying to set up a field hospital but we have no medical supplies."

The Britain-based Observatory has reported several hundred civilians killed since the onslaught on the protest hub was launched overnight Friday.

New clashes were also reported in northwestern Idlib province, leaving one person dead and four wounded.

Elsewhere, the Observatory added, 18 soldiers defected on Wednesday in the southern province of Daraa, cradle of the popular uprising against Assad's 11 years of iron-fisted rule.

Rights groups estimate more than 6,000 people have died in nearly a year of upheaval in the Middle Eastern country, as Assad's hardline regime seeks to snuff out the revolt that began in March with peaceful protests amid the Arab Spring.

Western and Arab efforts to end the violence have met resistance from Russia, whose foreign minister said after meeting Assad in Damascus on Tuesday that the Syrian leader was "fully committed" to ending the bloodshed.

Sergei Lavrov flew into Damascus to a hero's welcome on Tuesday, with thousands of cheering, flag-waving Assad supporters lining the route of his motorcade.

Russia, which along with China over the weekend vetoed a UN resolution condemning the government crackdown, has staunchly stood by its last ally in the region, a key buyer of Moscow's military hardware that hosts a strategic Russian naval base.

"We (Russia) confirmed our readiness to act for a rapid solution to the crisis based on the plan put forward by the Arab League," said Lavrov, adding Syria was ready to see an enlarged Arab League mission in the country, Russian news agencies reported.

"We have every reason to believe that the signal that we've brought here to move along in a more active manner along all directions has been heard," he said.

"In particular, President Assad assured (us) that he is fully committed to the task of a cessation of violence, from whatever source it comes."

The 22-member Arab League deployed an observer mission to Syria in December to oversee a plan to end the bloodshed, but it was suspended a month later amid increasing violence on the ground.

It has since put forward a new plan for Assad to hand his powers to Vice President Faruq al-Shara and for the formation of a national unity government to oversee the preparation of democratic elections.

Lavrov said Syria was pressing ahead with the reforms Assad promised last year and would soon announce the timetable for a referendum on a new constitution to replace the current one that enshrines the dominance of his Baath party.

But US State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland voiced scepticism over Assad's promises.

"You can understand that the international community as a whole would be pretty sceptical ... Instead of focusing on ending the violence, what we seem to have is a re-upping of this same offer that Assad has been making for months and months and months," she told reporters in Washington.

Meanwhile, the Lebanese army has tightened controls along the border with Syria, mainly in the north, to prevent smuggling and stop activists from using the country as a base for Assad's opponents.

AFP