DHAKA: UN humanitarian chief Valerie Amos has urged the Security Council to act immediately to ensure more humanitarian access in war-torn Syria.

Calling for a resolution, she said it was "unacceptable" that both Damascus and rebels continued to "flagrantly" violate humanitarian law, reports BBC.

The council has been deadlocked over aid deliveries in Syria, where millions have been forced to flee their homes.

Meanwhile, Syrian troops resumed their attack on a key rebel town.

Warplanes have been carrying out air strikes and artillery has been pounding Yabroud since Wednesday. The town is the last rebel stronghold in the Qalamoun mountains, near the Lebanese border.

There has been a surge in fighting across Syria in recent weeks, with both side apparently trying to gain territory to strengthen their hands in ongoing peace talks in Geneva, Switzerland.

The negotiations between the government of President Bashar al-Assad and Syrian opposition groups remained deadlocked, with both sides failing to even agree a common agenda on Wednesday.

However, the UN-Arab League envoy to Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi, was more hopeful, saying he had received assurances from US and Russian officials that they were willing to try to "unblock the situation".

BDST: 1054  HRS, FEB 14, 2014