Syrian forces mounting raids on dissidents killed at least six civilians yesterday, rights groups said, as Damascus accused the West of trying to break up the country with “total chaos.”

And as China expressed its concern at the wider implications of the turbulence, the United States warned of signs that President Bashar al-Assad’s opponents were turning to violence.

“Three civilians were killed and seven others were injured during an assault by the army and security agents against the Homs district of Bayada,” said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. The attack came after deserter soldiers burned a tank in the area, the Britain-based rights group said.

The forces killed two civilians during raids in the northern town of Jabal al-Zawiya, and another civilian was killed and five wounded in a dawn operation in southern Daraa province, where the protests began in mid-March.

Powerful guns, some mounted on tanks, were used on people in Rastan, Talbisseh and Tir Maala, all in central Homs province, the Observatory added, a day after reporting four soldiers were shot dead trying to desert in Idlib.

“At least 20 people were wounded, seven seriously, when soldiers using heavy machine guns on tanks began to open fire at sunrise in Rastan,” it said, adding “loud explosions were also heard.”

The Local Coordination Committees, which organises protests on the ground, reported a “massive deployment” of security forces in Rastan. In a blog he launched yesterday, British ambassador to Damascus Simon Collis said Mr Assad’s regime sees “only one way out – the return to authoritarian rule where fear surpasses a desire for freedom.”

“This is a regime that remains determined to control every significant aspect of political life in Syria. It is used to power. And it will do anything to keep it,” Mr Collis wrote.