Russia’s foreign minister has said Syrian President Bashar al Assad is willing to seek a solution to the violence engulfing Syria – as his forces continue their attack on the city of Homs.

After talks in Damascus, Sergei Lavrov said the discussion was “very useful” and Mr Assad was “fully committed” to ending the bloodshed in his country.

But as Mr Lavrov spoke the shelling of Homs continued and Hama also reportedly came under attack.

Sky News chief correspondent Stuart Ramsay, reporting from Homs, said residents were “bracing themselves for what they believe is going to be a ground assault by the infantry who are everywhere”.

“They will be, they believe, coming in to take the leadership of the opposition and to take on and destroy the Free Syrian Army if they can get hold of them.”

Salam, an activist inside Homs, told Sky News that conditions in the city were getting “more and more suffocating every day”.

“People dont have enough to eat, the electricity is cut for most people. Yesterday most the city was with no electricity and telephone and no internet.”

“We can’t go outside most of the time to get our drinking (water) and food because there are snipers everywhere. The government is shooting randomnly at people going out in the streets.

“We can’t take wounded people to real hospitals because the government will arrest the wounded people and torture them and kill them.”

Burnt out security force vehicles in the besieged city of Homs

Russia’s foreign minister said Mr Assad had expressed interest in an enlargement of the Arab League monitoring mission in Syria in order to stabilise the situation.

“We (Russia) confirmed our readiness to act for a rapid solution to the crisis based on the plan put forward by the Arab League,” Mr Lavrov said.

Russia’s news agency Itar-Tass said Mr Assad will soon announce a date for a referendum on a new Syrian constitution.

But the US state department said it was sceptical about the apparent olive branch offered by Damascus.

Spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said it “sounds like another promise by the Assad regime to put forward a piece of paper that they control for a vote that they can control and, frankly, how that gets us to the kind of peaceful national dialogue about a democratic future for Syria that we all want to see is not very clear”.

Thousands of regime supporters waving Syrian flags lined the streets of the capital’s Mazzeh neighbourhood on the route of Mr Lavrov’s motorcade in Damascus.

Many chanted: “Thank you Russia, thank you China.”

Mr Lavrov said condemnations of the UN veto had verged on “hysteria” and insisted his trip was aimed at achieving “the swiftest stabilisation” through democratic reform.

Former British foreign and defence secretary Sir Malcolm Rifkind told Sky’s Boulton & Co that Russia has “blood on its hands” over the UN veto.

A wounded fighter at a makeshift hospital in Homs last night

He said: “The Syrian government is not keeping its promise. Everything it says to us is bogus. The fact that Mr Lavrov can say today, with a straight face, that Mr Assad is working to end violence is blatant hypocrisy.

“The Russian government is not only betraying the people of Syria it is destroying its whole future in the Middle East because they will not be forgiven for the way they are behaving.”

Iran said foreign interference would destabilise Syria, rejecting accusations that Tehran was complicit in a “massacre” of civilians by supplying weapons to its main ally’s forces.

“We are absolutely not interfering in the internal affairs of Syria, and we consider that the interference of other countries there to be a danger to the security and stability of Syria,” foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said.

He was reacting to a statement Syria’s Muslim Brotherhood issued on Monday, which said: “We consider Russia, China and Iran as direct accomplices to the horrible massacre being carried out against our people.”

The three countries were accused of supplying weapons and equipment to President Assad’s regime by the group’s spokesman Zouheir Salem.

FSA fighters feared Iranian officers were in charge of the Homs attack and said snipers had been deployed.

Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov met President Bashar al Assad jut days after Moscow vetoed a UN resolution on Syria

At least 300 people have been killed since the bombardemnet of the city began on Friday, according to activists.

The Syrian authorities have denied firing on houses and said security forces had in fact killed “tens of terrorists” in the city.

Britain, Spain, France and Belgium have withdrawn their ambassadors from Syria, the US has closed its embassy in Damascus and the Gulf Cooperation Council is to ask ambassadors from Syria to leave the Gulf countries.

The White House has also said it is considering providing humanitarian aid to the Syrian people.

US Senator John McCain, the Republican candidate in the 2008 election won by President Barack Obama, said it was time for Washington to think about arming the rebels.

“We should start considering all options, including arming the opposition. The blood-letting has got to stop,” he said.

Meanwhile, Mr Assad’s British-born wife has spoken for the first time since the uprising began and expressed support for her husband, according to The Times.

“The President is the President of Syria, not a faction of Syrians, and the First Lady supports him in that role,” Asma Assad said in an email sent via an intermediary to the paper.

It continued: “These days she is equally involved in bridging gaps and encouraging dialogue. She listens to and comforts the families of the victims of the violence.”

Regime critics condemned the statement, saying it was “delusional”.

Read more on Syria:

:: Homes In Homs Turned Into Makeshift Hospitals

:: Homs Attack: Is This Syria’s Benghazi Moment?

:: The Assad Regime: Who’s Who

:: Q&A: The Syrian Uprising Explained

:: Syria’s First Lady Backs Her Husband