Syrian troops continue heavy shelling of cities

Amateur footage upload on social media shows images of the cities of Douma, Homs and Hama heavily shelled on Wednesday and Thursday.

Al Arabiya cannot independently verify the content of the video.

United Nations monitors set out for heavily shelled Douma near the Syrian capital Damascus on Thursday in an attempt to halt the violence between rebels and government forces.

In defiance of UN backed ceasefire pledges, shelling was relentless in Douma on Wednesday residents reported as France stepped up the pressure on the UN to impose sanctions to try to end more than a year of fighting in which about 9,000 people have been killed.

Damascus says 2,600 of its security personnel have died at the hands of insurgents.

So far, there are only 15 unarmed monitors in Syria out of a planned final team of 300, a frustratingly thin presence for opposition activists who say they have noted some decline in the daily death toll.

As well as urging faster deployment of the monitors, French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe says Paris will push for a so-called "Chapter 7" resolution, which would mean punitive sanctions, next month if Assad's forces did not pull back.

Travelling in small teams, the monitors have been filmed by amateur cameramen in the country, in their blue U.N. helmets and bullet-proof vests, meeting rebels and residents of shelled neighborhoods around the country.