Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad and Foreign Minister of Russia Sergei Lavrov   Damascus – Agencies While President Bashar Al-Assad pledged reform, fifty-two civilians were killed on Wednesday as government troops pressed a relentless assault on the flashpoint Syrian city of Homs for a fifth straight day, flattening many buildings, Reuters news agency reported activists as saying.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the deaths were caused by shelling and gunfire from Syrian forces, and added that three entire families were also killed overnight in the central city by regime-backed thugs, known as Shabiha.
"We expect the death toll to rise ... given the fact that many victims remain under the rubble," Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Britain-based group, was quoted as saying by AFP.
Activists said the most intense shelling appeared to be in the neighbourhood of Baba Amr, where buildings in some areas were completely flattened and all power and communications were cut off.
"Since dawn the shelling has been extremely intense and they are using rockets and mortars," said Omar Shaker, an activist in the besieged city reached by satellite phone from Beirut.
"They have destroyed all infrastructure and bombed water tanks and electricity poles," he added. "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."
He said at least 40 per cent of buildings in Baba Amr had been hit.
Shaker said it was clear the intense shelling was aimed at paving the way for a ground assault.
"The shelling right now is from far away which means troops are not moving on the ground," he said. "When the shelling eases it means they are moving."
The Observatory said that apart from Baba Amr the shelling was also targeting the Khaldiyeh, Bayada, Karm El-Zeytoun and Wadi Iran neighbourhoods.
The three families killed were in the Assabil and Nazihin neighbourhoods.
The Observatory has reported several hundred civilians killed since the onslaught was launched overnight Friday.
Activists say more than 6,000 people have died in Syria since the outbreak of a popular revolt last March against the regime of Bashar Al-Assad.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov flew to Damascus on Tuesday, accompanied by his foreign security chief, to try to boost a plan to keep Al-Assad in power. "Necessary reforms must be implemented in order to address legitimate demands of the people striving for a better life,"
 Lavrov told Assad, as the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council and a number of EU countries announced the withdrawal of their ambassadors from Syria because of Assad's refusal to accept Arab attempts to end the country's bloodshed.
"It's clear that efforts to stop the violence should be accompanied by the beginning of a dialogue among the political forces," Lavrov said, according to the Russian news agency ITAR-Tass. "Today we received confirmation of the readiness of the president of Syria for this work."
The visit was also a sign that Moscow wants to get a firsthand assessment of the situation on the ground in Syria. The raucous welcome the diplomats received from thousands of regime supporters appeared aimed at showing that Assad's grip is firm, at least in Damascus.
Syria has been a key Russian ally since the Soviet times, and Moscow remains a major arms supplier to Damascus while Assad unleashes his forces to crush not only peaceful protesters, but army defectors who are fighting the regime.
Tuesday's visit by Lavrov and intelligence chief Mikhail Fradkov was an evidence that Russia does not want to be seen as giving Assad a free hand to crush his opponents in the wake of Saturday's veto at the UN Security Council.
Both Russia and China blocked a Western-Arab-backed resolution supporting calls for Assad to hand over some powers as a way to defuse the 11-month-old crisis.
Russia has opposed any UN call that could be interpreted as advocating military intervention or a regime change. Russia and China already used their veto powers in October to block an attempt to condemn the violence in Syria.
On Tuesday, Moscow delivered its own message to Syria, calling on all sides to hold a meaningful dialogue.
Assad replied that Syria is determined to hold a national dialogue with the opposition and independent figures, saying his government is "ready to cooperate making any effort that can bring stability back in Syria," according to the Syrian state news agency SANA.
Repeated efforts by the Arab League and Russia to broker talks have been rejected by the Syrian opposition, which refuses any negotiation and continues the crackdown. The opposition has also said Assad's proposed reforms, including a new constitution and eventual multiparty elections, are aimed at keeping Assad's hold on power.
Tuesday's statement from the GCC says the withdrawal of the envoys will begin immediately. It comes as many European nations also withdraw their ambassadors.
On Monday, the US pulled its embassy staff from Damascus.
The GCC statement was carried by the official news agency in Kuwait, one of the GCC states. The others are Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman and the United Arab Emirates. It also says the countries are asking Syria to recall its ambassadors.
The Gulf States have led Arab pressure on Assad to end his government's attacks on opposition groups.
France and Italy announced they had recalled their ambassadors to Syria, a day after the US closed its embassy in Damascus. The diplomatic moves were a clear message that Western powers see no point in engaging with Assad and now will seek to bolster Syria's opposition.
The German government called in Syria’s ambassador on Tuesday after security officials in Berlin arrested two men suspected of spying for Syrian intelligence on groups critical of Assad’s regime.
“We will signal unambiguously to Syrian officials that any apparent activity against the Syrian opposition in Germany is in no way tolerable and a violation of the law,” German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle told reporters in Berlin on Tuesday as he announced the diplomatic protest.
The men, identified as 47-year-old Mahmoud El A., who holds German and Lebanese citizenship, and Akram O. 34, a Syrian citizen, were arrested in Berlin earlier  on Tuesday in an operation that involved about 70 investigators, who searched the suspects’ apartments and those of six others.
The two detained are “strongly suspected of carefully observing the Syrian opposition in Germany for a Syrian intelligence agency for years,” Germany’s Federal Prosecutor said in a statement. Other suspects, whose apartments were searched, were accused of providing assistance.
Suspicion of Syrian espionage arose on December 28, when Germany’s Foreign Ministry called on investigators to clarify the alleged beating of a Syrian opposition figure, a member of the Green Party in Berlin’s Mitte district, after the party said it was probably the work of Syrian agents.
Police said at the time that the politician Ferhad Ahma had been beaten at his apartment early on December 26 by two men posing as police officers. Local Greens officials accused the Syrian government of trying to intimidate Ahma.
Turkey, once a strong Assad supporter and now one of his main critics, added its voice to the international condemnation, with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan saying that his country cannot remain silent about massacres in Syria. The PM said Turkey would "launch a new initiative with countries that stand by the Syrian people instead of the regime."
His comments reflect a growing movement coming from the US, Europe and the countries in the region to organise a coalition of nations to back Syria's opposition, though the kind of support they would like to provide remains unclear. Over the weekend, US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton called for "friends of democratic Syria" to unite and rally against Assad's regime.
On Tuesday, the Obama administration suggested it might provide humanitarian aid to the Syrian people, but did not specify how or to whom.
Meanwhile, regime forces stepped up an assault on Homs, Syria's third largest city.
An activist said tanks were closing in on the rebel-held Baba Amr district in Homs, tightening a months-long siege of the area.
"The shelling has been going on for days and the siege is getting worse. We are short of everything including food and medical supplies," said an activist who identified himself only by his first name, Omar. "People here have not slept for days."
The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said troops were attempting to storm Baba Amr. It also reported that a 15-year-old boy was shot to death by security forces who stormed the town of Houleh, in Homs province.
More than 5,400 people have been killed in Syria since the uprising began in March 2011, the UN said early last month. Hundreds more are believed to have been killed since then, but the UN says the chaos in the country has made it impossible to cross-check the figures.
Syria has blocked access to trouble spots and prevented independent reporting, making it nearly impossible to verify accounts from either side. The Assad regime says terrorists acting out a foreign conspiracy to destabilize the country are behind the uprising, not people seeking to transform the authoritarian regime.
On Monday, troops shelled a makeshift medical clinic and residential areas, killing nearly 70 people, activists said. More than a dozen others were reported killed elsewhere.
The escalating violence prompted the United States to close its embassy in Syria and send US Ambassador Robert Ford and 17 other US officials out of the country.
President Barack Obama said the Syrian leader's departure is only a matter of time. He said a negotiated solution was possible, without recourse to outside military intervention. Later, however, White House spokesman Jay Carney said the administration was taking "no options off the table."
The US Embassy in Amman followed with an emergency message on Tuesday warning US citizens not to travel to Syria and recommending that anybody in the country leave immediately.
The French and Italian foreign ministries said they were recalling their ambassadors from Syria for consultations because of the continued crackdown, but both countries said their embassies in Damascus would remain open. Britain recalled its ambassador on Monday.