Kofi Annan, the United Nations-Arab League special Syria envoy, headed to Moscow on Saturday to lobby the Kremlin on how to end violence in the country, while Syrian troops shelled opposition strongholds and clashed with opposition forces around the country, activists report.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the city of Homs was among those to be hit with a bombardment of shells Saturday morning.

Annan's visit is part of a push by Western and Arab nations to try and gauge how much pressure Russia is willing to put on its close ally.

He is scheduled to meet with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Sunday. After long staying as neutral in the bloody Syria conflict as possible, Russia on Wednesday supported a non-binding resolution in the UN Security Council calling on Syrian forces to withdraw from protest cities and begin a "political transition" to a more democratic state.

Gauging Moscow and Beijing

The resolution said nothing about the future of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's role in a future government - a key condition for Moscow's vote. It also gave no consequences should Assad ignore the resolution and continue the crackdown on regime opponents, which has lasted more than a year and killed at least 8,000 people by UN estimates.

Syria is a major purchaser of arms from Russia, and the close ties between the two countries have led Moscow to veto two previous Security Council resolutions seeking to end the violence. China joined in both those vetoes, and Annan continues to Beijing after Moscow to speak with officials there.

Meanwhile the specially appointed UN coordinator for Syrian refugees said the organization expects some 100,000 Syrians who have fled their country will need support in the next six months. Panos Moumtzis told Reuters news agency that the conflict could create as many as 205,000 refugees, and that neighboring countries like Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey should prepare for a "potential mass influx."

"In Jordan, where I was at the border 48 hours ago, there were about 150 people crossing the border every day," Moumtzis said. "In Lebanon, the numbers were smaller, about 10-15 families every day. In Turkey, while I was on this mission during a period of 72 hours we had 1,500 who crossed... Everybody is trying to get into safety whichever way they can manage."

mz, acb/sjt (AFP, dpa, Reuters)