Russia and China have twice vetoed council resolutions that would have condemned Damascus, accusing Western and Arab nations of pushing for Libya-style "regime change" in Syria.

China urged both Damascus and the rebels to end the violence, particularly against civilians, immediately and start talks, but again said it opposed any foreign military intervention in Syria.

"We oppose anyone interfering in Syria's internal affairs under the pretext of 'humanitarian' issues," said a foreign ministry statement carried by Xinhua news agency early on Sunday Beijing time and monitored in London.

Former Syrian ally Turkey said Assad was committing "war crimes" and condemned Syria for blocking aid to Baba Amro.

"The Syrian regime is committing a crime against humanity every day," Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said.

Syria's Sana news agency reported a suicide car bombing in the southern town of Deraa, but activists denied it was a suicide attack.

Sana said the Deraa bomber killed three people and wounded 20 others, while residents said seven people had been killed.

Rami Abdelrahman, head of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said anti-Assad fighters had killed six soldiers and wounded nine in the town of al-Herak, south of Deraa.

He also said seven people had been killed in Syria's north in and around Idlib province, three by a roadside bomb and the others by gunfire from Syrian security services.

In the suburbs of Damascus, activists reported hundreds of arrests and said Syrian security forces had killed three people during raids in which they also set alight homes and cars.

Due to media restrictions, the activists' reports could not be independently verified.

In unusually tough remarks to the UN General Assembly on Friday, Ban blamed Damascus for the suffering of civilians.

"The brutal fighting has trapped civilians in their homes, without food, heat or electricity or medical care, without any chance of evacuating the wounded or burying the dead. People have been reduced to melting snow for drinking water," he said.

Syrian UN Ambassador Bashar Ja'afari, said Ban's comments included "extremely virulent rhetoric which confines itself to slandering a government based on reports, opinions or hearsay."

The body of French photographer Remi Ochlik, who was killed in Syria with Amnerican journalist Marie Colvin, was due to arrive in Paris overnight.