Syrian activists said at least 47 people were killed overnight by tank and artillery barrages in the flashpoint central city.
No independent confirmation of the report was available because of Syrian government restrictions on news reporting.
The barrages are reported to have targeted four neighborhoods at the hub of antiregime protests — Bayadah, Bab Amr, Khalidiyeh, and Karm el-Zeytoun.
Omar Idibi, spokesman for the opposition Local Coordination Committees, was quoted as saying troops stormed Khalidiyeh, Bab Amr, and Inshaat at dawn — seizing a hospital and arresting injured people.
The attacks continued despite Russia winning a promise from Assad to bring an end to bloodshed, while Western and Arab states acted to further isolate Assad.
Assad told Lavrov he would support an earlier Arab League plan calling for a dialogue with the opposition, release of prisoners, and the withdrawal of the military from protest centers.
“We have confirmed our readiness to help in every way to end the crisis as soon as possible on the basis of the positions contained in the initiative of the League of Arab States that was put forward on the 2nd of November,” Lavrov said. “Specifically as provided for by the above-mentioned initiative, the president of Syria assured us that he is fully committed to the task of stopping violence wherever it may come from.”
Walid al-Bunni, a member of the opposition Syrian National Council, said Lavrov had brought to Damascus no new initiatives and dismissed Assad’s “so-called reforms” as not going far enough.
Syrian state TV reported a committee tasked with drafting a new constitution had finished its work.
Lavrov traveled to the Syrian capital three days after Russia and China vetoed a UN Security Council resolution on Syria, triggering harsh rebukes from around the globe.
In the latest such condemnation, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, once a backer of Assad, called the UN vetoes “a fiasco for the civilized world.”
He also said Turkey is working on new initiatives to help Syria’s opponents of Assad.
Meanwhile, France, Italy, Britain, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Spain became the latest nations to recall their ambassadors from Syria.
The Gulf Cooperation Council said it was doing the same, as well as kicking out Syrian envoys from their own capitals.
The action comes a day after the United States completely shut down its embassy, citing security concerns.
Compiled from agency reports
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