Artillery shells rain down on Rastan, Homs - part of the ongoing siege of the area by government forces.

The amateur video, which cannot be independently verified, also shows Syrian helicopters flying overhead.

The activist filming the scene says "Rastan is burning, where are you Arabs and Muslims?".

Another video obtained from a social media website shows what appears to be a Syrian soldier firing a rocket propelled grenade.

Meanwhile in Deraa, this amateur footage shows a funeral for four people killed by government troops - a handwritten sign says the funeral is for "martyrs of the Bursa al Sham massacre".

UN peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous on Tuesday said the Syrian conflict has grown into a full scale civil war.

Syria's foreign ministry later called this an unrealistic description.

The U.N. has a monitoring mission in the country, but their presence has failed to prevent the bloodshed and has faced increasing resentment.

This convoy returned to Damascus on Wednesday after being attacked in Lattakia by an angry crowd the previous day.

The U.N estimates that President Bashar al Assad's forces have killed over 10,000 people since the start of the uprising.

Simon Hanna, Reuters