BBC News with David Austin

The commander of the Arab League observer mission in Syria, General Mohammed Ahmed al-Dabi, has said that violence in the country has

escalated

sharply since Tuesday when the observer mission's mandate was renewed for a second month. Activists on the ground have also reported a big upsurge in violence. Jim Muir is monitoring events from Beirut.

The latest reports of bloodshed are from across the country. At Aleppo, the second biggest city in the far north, activists said security forces opened fire on protesters after Friday prayers, causing heavy casualties. They reported similar scenes near Deraa in the south at the town of Nawa, where they said the military shot at people in a funeral procession. Heavy

bombardment

and shooting were reported in the two big cities north of Damascus - Homs and Hama - and also in some of the townships around the capital itself. The local coordinating committees of the

uprising

said it all added up to a clear escalation against the rebelling people.

The United Nations Security Council is discussing a draft resolution urging President Assad to stand down. There will be no vote for procedural and political reasons. The Europeans want the strongest possible appeal from Arab states to avoid another Russian veto. Russia's only naval base in the Middle East is in Syria's Mediterranean port of Tartus.

France is speeding up the withdrawal of its troops from Afghanistan. The French President Nicolas Sarkozy said they'd be home by the end of 2013 - a year earlier than the deadline set for the withdrawal of all Nato-led forces. Christian Fraser reports from Paris.