International observers have visited on Saturday the Syrian city of Homs, as the UN Security Council is likely to vote on a resolution to send a 300-strong ceasefire observer force to the country.

International observers have visited on Saturday the Syrian city of Homs, as the UN Security Council is likely to vote on a resolution to send a 300-strong ceasefire observer force to the country.

“A team of the international observers on Saturday… paid a visit to the central province of Homs”, State news agency reported.

The team met Homs governor and toured the neighborhoods of Baba Amr, al-Zahraa, Zaidal and Fairouza in the city, the agency added.

Meanwhile, Diplomats said the council could vote on Saturday after painstaking talks brought Russian and European resolutions into a single draft text.

Russia's UN ambassador called for a "unanimous vote" on the text his country took a leading role in drawing up. But US ambassador Susan Rice indicated that a vote is not certain as western governments decide whether the conditions for the force are strong enough.

The council has approved an advanced mission of 30 observers and seven are already in Syria.
Ban asked this week for the expanded force to be set up in order to facilitate the implementation of UN envoy to Syria, Kofi Annan’s plan.

Sending the full 300 monitors requires a new resolution by the 15 member council which is to meet at 11:00 am (1500 GMT) on Saturday.

Friday's talks produced a text that "council members will send back to their capitals for instructions," Rice said, but added that a vote was not certain.
"It is possible that not everybody will have instructions at that point, it is possible that there will not be an agreed text at that point. We'll see and we'll regroup accordingly," she told reporters.

Russia's UN ambassador Vitaly Churkin was more upbeat. "We have a text and I hope there's going to be a unanimous vote tomorrow," he said.
British envoy Mark Lyall Grant said the council members "are quite close to an agreement."

Under the proposed resolution, the full mission would have an initial three month mandate to monitor the cessation of hostilities which started on April 12. Halting hostilities was part of a six-point plan agreed by UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan and Assad.