<p>Syrian forces killed four civilians on Sunday in shelling of rebel areas and clashed with gunmen, testing a shaky UN-backed ceasefire as international monitors prepared to arrive in the unrest-hit country.<br /><br /></p>.<p>Forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad subjected the Khaldiyeh and Bayada neighbourhoods of the flashpoint central city of Homs to their fiercest bombardment since the truce came into force at dawn on Thursday, monitors said.<br /><br />“The bombardment of Khaldiyeh intensified this morning with an average of three shells a minute,” said head of Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Rami Abdel Rahman.<br /><br />He said one civilian was killed in Khaldiyeh, another was killed in shelling of the Jobar neighbourhood, and a third was shot dead by a sniper in Qsour. Shabiha pro-regime militiamen also shot dead a civilian in the town of Aqrab, in the central province of Hama.<br /><br />Three civilians died in Homs shelling on Saturday, among 14 people killed nationwide ahead of a UN Security Council vote approving the dispatch of the observer mission to monitor the truce.<br /><br />Elsewhere, rebel fighters clashed with security forces in al-Bab in the northern province of Aleppo, near the town’s State Security police headquarters, the Observatory said.<br />A police station there also came under fire, the Britain-based watchdog added.<br /><br />Opposition group the Local Coordination Committees said the army shelled the village of Khirbet al-Joz in the northern province of Idlib, which is base to fighters from the rebel Free Syrian Army.<br /></p>
<p>Syrian forces killed four civilians on Sunday in shelling of rebel areas and clashed with gunmen, testing a shaky UN-backed ceasefire as international monitors prepared to arrive in the unrest-hit country.<br /><br /></p>.<p>Forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad subjected the Khaldiyeh and Bayada neighbourhoods of the flashpoint central city of Homs to their fiercest bombardment since the truce came into force at dawn on Thursday, monitors said.<br /><br />“The bombardment of Khaldiyeh intensified this morning with an average of three shells a minute,” said head of Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Rami Abdel Rahman.<br /><br />He said one civilian was killed in Khaldiyeh, another was killed in shelling of the Jobar neighbourhood, and a third was shot dead by a sniper in Qsour. Shabiha pro-regime militiamen also shot dead a civilian in the town of Aqrab, in the central province of Hama.<br /><br />Three civilians died in Homs shelling on Saturday, among 14 people killed nationwide ahead of a UN Security Council vote approving the dispatch of the observer mission to monitor the truce.<br /><br />Elsewhere, rebel fighters clashed with security forces in al-Bab in the northern province of Aleppo, near the town’s State Security police headquarters, the Observatory said.<br />A police station there also came under fire, the Britain-based watchdog added.<br /><br />Opposition group the Local Coordination Committees said the army shelled the village of Khirbet al-Joz in the northern province of Idlib, which is base to fighters from the rebel Free Syrian Army.<br /></p>