Syria's Assad orders new amnesty as five more dead

Three people were killed in the central city of Homs, one of them a teenager, and another two in the northeastern province of Deir Ezzor, the activists said, citing residents, as both the pro-and anti-Assad camps took to the streets.

After relatives buried the 14-year-old in Homs, security forces fired on mourners leaving the cemetery, causing casualties, an activist who was present said.

On the humanitarian front, International Committee of the Red Cross president Jakob Kellenberger said after talks with Syrian authorities that the ICRC has been granted access to areas and people affected by the unrest.

Meanwhile, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, which took part in a mission organised by the government to Jisr al-Shughur near the border with Turkey, said that villages in the flashpoint area were mostly deserted.

"A UNHCR staff member reported that villages were increasingly empty from around 40 kilometres (25 miles) from Jisr al-Shughur," said UNHCR spokesman Adrian Edwards. "There was no evidence of people working in the fields."

At the forefront of criticism of the Syrian authorities, France called for UN Security Council intervention.