DAMASCUS, Jan 22: A fresh outbreak of fierce fighting has gripped the strategic Syrian city of Homs, a watchdog said Tuesday, as Russia warned of a protracted civil war and helped its citizens flee the violence.

A day after Arab League chief Nabil al-Arabi said a UN-backed peace mission has yet to yield even a “glimmer of hope,” the 22-month conflict pitting rebels against forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad showed no signs of abating.

At least 23 troops and pro-regime fighters were killed and dozens wounded in Homs, dubbed “the capital of the revolution” by the opposition, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

“We have reports from the military hospital in Homs of up to 130 soldiers and pro-regime fighters killed or wounded in the past three days,” the Britain-based watchdog said.

“So far, we have confirmed 23 of the men have died, but the actual number may be higher,” said the Observatory's Rami Abdel Rahman.

The troops were killed in heavy clashes in western Homs, which Abdel Rahman said was crucial as it lies on a “strategic fault line” both for the rebels and the pro-Assad forces.

“The area is next to the main highway linking Damascus to the sea. Its importance has to do with access not only to the capital, but also to trade and arms coming into Syria from the Mediterranean,” he said.

Activists on the ground said the city and province of the same name have returned to the forefront of conflict that the United Nations estimates has already cost more than 60,000 lives. “Nowhere in Syria has the violence of the regime's onslaught against rebels been so intense as in Homs city,” anti-regime activist Omar Shakir told AFP by telephone.

On Tuesday, the Russian authorities helped up to 150 of their citizens escape Syria via neighbouring Lebanon, a diplomat said, insisting the airlift was not the start of an operation to evacuate Russians from the war-torn country.

“There are thousands of Russian citizens in Syria. The issue is that the Russian airline is no longer flying to Damascus, so we are helping some 100, maximum 150 people to leave Syria via Beirut, which is very close,” the diplomat said on the condition of anonymity.

As well as claiming tens of thousands of lives, the conflict has forced some 600,000 people to flee Syria, mainly to neighbouring countries, according to the UN.—AFP