Arab League discuss Anan replacement as Syrian panic rises

The ministers are expected to discuss a new envoy to Syria to replace Kofi Annan, who resigned earlier this month from his position as UN-Arab League envoy to Syria earlier this month, after his proposed six-point peace plan failed to come into effect and violence escalated.

His replacement will be veteran Algerian diplomat Lakhdar Brahimi, reports suggest. At the table will be envoys from Saudi Arabia and Qatar - leading backers of the rebels in Syria.

The mandate of the United Nations observer mission in Syria - which now comprises some 150 observers - is due to run out in a week's time, but UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says there still need to be people on the ground to make impartial assessments of the military situation.

The Security Council is plagued by little consensus on the council, as Syrian ally Russia is calling for an extension. The US is responding by taking steps outside UN structures to support Syrian opposition groups.

In the meantime, fighting has continued in the Syrian capital, Damascus, and the second city of Aleppo.

Syrian state TV said authorities were hunting "terrorists" who had set off a bomb in Marjeh, an exclusive district of Damascus near the central bank, and who were "shooting at random to spark panic among citizens".

At about the same time, another blast went off near Tishrin Stadium close by, reported state news agency Sana.

Hours later, Sana reported that a bus had been attacked in a Damascus suburb, said AP news agency, with six passengers from the central province of Hama killed. It blamed the attack on the "terrorists".

Violence erupted again between the rebel Free Syrian Army (FSA) and government forces in the country's largest city, Aleppo.

Activists said the army pounded areas south-west of Salah al-Din, from which the rebels retreated on Thursday.

Reports from Syria are difficult to confirm because of restrictions on reporters working there.