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An image grab shows a Syrian man standing in front of what he says is a house that was bombed by government forces

DAMASCUS (AFP) - Syrian forces pressed a relentless assault on the protest city of Homs on Wednesday, with dozens of civilians reported killed, hours after President Bashar al-Assad said he was committed to ending the bloodshed.

The barrage of gunfire, mortars and shells was launched at dawn and continued all day. State television said a car bomb had ripped through the central city, killing and wounding civilians as well as security officers.

The blast hit the neighbourhood of Bayada, the television reported, blaming "armed terrorist gangs." If confirmed, the attack would be the first of its kind in Homs.

It came as Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin insisted any outside intervention to stop the violence would be akin to behaving "like a bull in a china shop."

But France and Britain dismissed Moscow's efforts to end nearly 11 months of bloodshed in Syria and cast doubt on Assad's claim that he was "fully committed" to resolving the crisis.

Related article: 'God help us': appeal from Syria's Homs

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Homs bombarded

Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said at least 62 people were killed across the country on Wednesday, including 50 in Homs.

Among those killed in the beleaguered city were three entire families slain overnight by "shabiha" armed regime supporters, he said. The dead included at least three children aged five, seven and 15.

The most intense shelling was in Baba Amr, where at least 23 buildings were completely destroyed, including a home hit by a rocket that killed a little girl, Abdel Rahman said.

Activists in Homs said the widespread shelling was a clear bid to pave the way for a ground assault on Syria's third city.

"Since dawn the shelling has been extremely intense and they are using rockets and mortars," Omar Shaker, reached by satellite telephone from Beirut, told AFP.

"They have destroyed all infrastructure and bombed water tanks and electricity poles. The humanitarian situation is extremely dire and food is lacking.

"We are trying to set up a field hospital but we have no medical supplies."

Ali Hazouri, a doctor in Baba Amr, said a field hospital had been hit and several physicians were wounded, some critically.

"One rescuer from the Red Cross had both legs blown off in the shelling," he said.

As th

e regime forces tightened their grip, severing power, communications and other supplies, state media reported "terrorists" attacked Homs' oil refinery.

The authorities frequently blame "terrorists" for attacks on infrastructure, while its opponents accuse the regime of carrying them out to punish centres of resistance.

The Observatory has reported 400 civilians killed since the onslaught on Homs, a junction city of 1.6 million inhabitants, was launched overnight Friday.

It reported a similar onslaught in Zabadani, a restive town near Damascus that has been targeted for seven consecutive days. The latest shelling killed three people.

In southern Syria, troops used heavy gunfire after an army officer and 17 soldiers defected in Daraa province, cradle of the uprising against Assad's 11 years of iron-fisted rule.

Rights groups estimate more than 6,000 people have died in nearly a year of upheaval in the Middle East country, as Assad's regime seeks to snuff out the revolt that began in March with peaceful protests amid the Arab Spring.

Western and Arab efforts to address the violence have met resistance from Russia, whose foreign minister said after meeting Assad that the Syrian leader was "fully committed" to ending the bloodshed.

Sergei Lavrov pointedly declined to say whether Moscow had asked Assad to quit during their talks in Damascus on Tuesday.

"Any outcome of national dialogue should be the result of agreement between the Syrians themselves and should be acceptable to all Syrians," he said.

Putin issued a similar statement.

"Of course we condemn violence from whichever side it comes, but we must not behave like a bull in a china shop. We need to allow people to decide their own fate independently."

©AFP / Faisal al-Tamimi

A Syrian girl with the old Syrian flag painted on her face attends a demonstration in the Qatari capital Doha

British Prime Minister David Cameron said he had "very little confidence" in the Russian efforts, while French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said Assad's promises were manipulation and should not be believed.

Moscow, which along with China vetoed a UN resolution condemning the crackdown at the weekend, has staunchly stood by its last ally in the region, a key buyer of military hardware that hosts a strategic Russian naval base.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev urged "the necessity of continuing -- including at the UN Security Council -- a search for coordinated approaches to help the Syrians regulate the crisis themselves."

He made the remarks in a phone call with the prime minister of Turkey, which said it was planning an international conference of regional players and world powers on solving the crisis "as soon as possible."

UN rights chief Navi Pillay said the failed Security Council resolution "appears to have fuelled the Syrian government's readiness to massacre its own people in a bid to crush dissent," calling for international action.