BBC
12 February 2012 Last updated at 10:36 GMT
Basic supplies are said to be running low in Homs
Arab foreign ministers are meeting in Cairo on Sunday to decide their next move after a resolution on Syria failed in the UN Security Council last week.
Officials say the ministers could discuss a joint observer mission with the UN and recognition of the main opposition group.
Syrian government forces have continued to bombard the city of Homs.
Meanwhile, Al-Qaeda's leader has backed the Syrian uprising.
In a video message, Ayman al-Zawahiri told the opposition not rely on the West or Arab countries for support.
Zawahiri - who took over the leadership of al-Qaeda following the death of Osama Bin Laden in May 2011 - described the Syrian government as a "cancerous regime that suffocated the free people of Syria".
He called on Muslims to offer whatever help they could.
Draft resolution
As well as the fighting in Homs, Syrian forces also entered the town of Zabadani, briefly held by the rebels last week.
Activists say at least 35 people died, while a general was killed in Damascus.
Brig-Gen Dr Isa al-Kholi, the head of a Syrian military hospital, was shot dead by members of an "armed terrorist group" as he left his home in the north of the city, the state news agency said.
It is believed to be the first assassination of a senior officer in the capital since the uprising began.
Pressure is mounting on the Arab League to lead efforts to end the bloodshed in Syria after diplomacy reached a dead-end at the UN Security Council a week ago, the BBC's Yolande Knell in Cairo reports.
Officials say the foreign ministers are expected to discuss a joint Arab-UN observer mission to replace the Arab League monitors who left in January because of continuing violence.
A delegation from the Syrian National Council (SNC), a coalition of major opposition parties, has arrived in Cairo, amid hopes that it could be recognised by more Arab countries.
"We want the Arab countries to decide how to best coordinate their initiatives to take us in the same direction, in the right direction," said Basma Kadmani of the SNC.
"We have been very reassured of everyone's agendas. It is a priority to deal with the Syria issue."
The league meeting will be preceded by a meeting of the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC), which expelled Syria's ambassadors from its member countries during the week.
GCC and Arab League member Saudi Arabia is also circulating a draft resolution at the UN General Assembly, similar to the one vetoed in the Security Council by China and Russia.
The draft resolution "fully supports" the Arab League peace plan published last month, which called on President Bashar al-Assad to hand over power to his vice-president, and make way for the rapid formation of a national unity government including the opposition.
The General Assembly is scheduled to discuss Syria on Monday, when it will be addressed by the UN's High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, but no vote on the resolution is expected by then.
There is no power of veto at the General Assembly but its resolutions have no legal force, unlike those of the Security Council.
'Rare ceasefire'
After a week under shellfire and virtual siege, conditions in the western city of Homs are reported to be getting desperate, with basic supplies running low.
More than 400 people are reported to have been killed in Homs in the past week
Saturday's fatalities were reported in the Baba Amr district - a centre of anti-government protests - but residents said there had also been explosions and heavy gunfire in the neighbouring area of Inshaat.
Activists say more than 400 people have been killed since security forces launched an assault on opposition-held areas in Homs last Saturday.
Meanwhile, government forces have entered the mountain town of Zabadani, outside Damascus.
Exiled opposition leader Kamal al-Labwani told Reuters news agency a rare ceasefire had been agreed in the town, whereby rebel forces could withdraw if they gave up weapons and armour captured from the government.
Human rights groups say more than 7,000 have died throughout Syria since March. The government says at least 2,000 members of the security forces have been killed combating "armed gangs and terrorists".
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