By Agencies

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Russia's foreign minister says ultimatums will not help end Syria's unrest, as he rebuffed calls for Moscow to join countries that have imposed sanctions on the beleaguered government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Speaking in Moscow after talks with his Algerian counterpart, Mourad Medelci, Sergei Lavrov criticised the West for taking an "immoral" stance on Syria.

He said Western nations were heaping pressure on Assad while turning a blind eye to violent action by armed anti-government protesters.

Lavrov said Western governments "refuse to raise the pressure on the armed extremist flank of the [Syrian] opposition, and at the same time accuse us of blocking the United Nations Security Council's work".

Lavrov's comments on Monday came amid reports of more deaths across Syria. On Tuesday, activists said at least 27 people had been killed in different locations, with 19 people reported dead in Idlib, two in Homs, three in Hama and another three in Deraa.
 
Tuesday's attacks will further swell the estimated 5,000 deaths that the chief of the UN human rights division, Navi Pillay, says have been documented by the world body since the start of the uprising.

'Resolute action'
 
However, Lavrov said there was little evidence to suggest that sanctions would help end the crisis in Syria.

"Regrettably, all the experience shows that sanctions - with the rarest exceptions - never work," he said.

"And we're not ready to resort to them, except for the most critical cases. At the same time we stand for a resolute action, but the one that is aimed at searching for ways to achieve peace, not intensifying one-sided pressure."
 
He added that Moscow had doubts about the sincerity of assurances from Western governments that they would not back the repetition of the "Libyan scenario".
 
Moscow, as well as Beijing, has resisted the push by the US and other Western nations for United Nations sanctions on Assad's regime as it tries to crush the uprising inspired by similar movements in Tunisia, Egypt and other Arab states.

Fresh attacks by Syrian security officials included a raid on the Harasta suburb as well as the Zahleh, Afran Teebeh, and Al Bustan districts, according to reports by the Syrian Revolution General Commission (SRGC), a pro-protesters outfit.
 
Residents reported heavy gunfire on homes, and said security forces were stealing gold and valuables and were making random arrests, according to a SRGC communiqué.
 
Activists have also reported a brutal attack by security forces on Kafr Yahmoul village in Idlib, where 13 people were killed and tens were injured.

The SRGC said security forces reportedly used grenades and machine guns to attack a group of residents gathered in one of the neighbourhoods of the village while in Deraa, two explosions shook Kherbet Ghazaleh along with heavy gunfire.

Virtual insurgency

The flare-up of violence has highlighted how Syria's uprising, which earlier this year involved mostly peaceful demonstrations in small towns and cities, has become a virtual insurgency in the countryside along the Turkish border.
 
Military defectors, known as the Free Syrian Army, have found shelter alongside thousands of Syrian refugees on the Turkish side, making use of mountainous terrain, local smuggling networks and support among villagers on the Syrian side to stage cross-border attacks.
 
Government forces have responded with stepped-up border patrols and reprisal raids on villages where anti-government protests have been frequent.