Syrian opposition activists say President Bashar al-Assad's forces shelled parts of the capital and the flashpoint city of Aleppo Friday, one day after the United Nations moved to end its observer mission in the country.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights also reported clashes between government forces and rebels near the main military airport in Damascus.
Rami Abd al-Rahman, director of the Britain-based Observatory, tells VOA the latest violence comes after at least 180 people were killed across the country on Thursday. He said the bodies of an additional 65 unidentified people were found in the town of Qatana, southwest of Damascus.
On Thursday, the U.N. Security Council announced it is allowing the mandate for the U.N. observer mission in Syria to expire. The mandate ends Sunday, but the Council says it hopes to establish a political office in the battle-ravaged country.
The council's current president, French Ambassador Gerard Araud, says members agreed the conditions for extending the current mission had not been met.
U.N. officials estimate that as many as 2.5 million Syrians are in need of aid as a result of the 18-month uprising against Mr. Assad.
Large numbers of civilians have been fleeing areas hit by the violence.
In the border town of Azaz, VOA reporter Scott Bobb says hundreds of people left their homes this week after the Syrian military dropped bombs on the rebel-controlled area.
“I saw personally hundreds both on Wednesday night and Thursday morning. Some had crossed and then others were held by the Turkish authorities until they could prepare housing for them. But definitely a large number of the residents of Azaz and still residents further to the south are still streaming out.”
Bobb reported from Azaz Thursday that the death toll from Wednesday's attack stood at more than 50 people and that at least 25 others were missing amid the chaos to evacuate.
Human Rights Watch visited Azaz Thursday, saying the attack leveled an entire block of houses and may have been targeting two nearby facilities of the rebel Free Syrian Army.
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“All of the wounded have been evacuated to Turkey. And the reason they did this was the Syrian government military has been bombing hospitals in rebel-held areas. And as a result, these are a hazard. And in fact, the second bomb in Azaz was thought to be meant for the hospital, the only remaining operating hospital in the city.”
“Doctors there, they said they treated 150 wounded officially, but that there were others that were lightly wounded that were not really counted. The death toll is hovering, depending on who you talk to, between 50 and 80 dead and 25 people missing.”
