- Wives of U.N. ambassadors urge Syrian first lady to "stop your husband"
- Syria sees an ebb in violence in some parts since a truce was enforced last week
- But government troops continue to attack opposition areas including Homs, Hama and Idlib
- A U.N. observer team is in the nation to monitor the tenuous cease-fire
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(CNN) -- Syrian forces renewed their attacks on opposition strongholds Wednesday, activists said, marking another day of violation of a shaky truce despite the presence of United Nations observers in the nation.
Government forces shelled civilian homes in various Homs neighborhoods, accompanied by intense gunfire and military aircraft flying over the city, according to the Local Coordination Committees in Syria.
In Daraa, gunfire erupted followed by explosions that rattled the city, the opposition group said.
The nation has seen an ebb in violence since President Bashar al-Assad pledged to enforce the cease-fire last week.
But the regime continues to attack opposition strongholds including Homs, Hama and Idlib in violation of the pledge by Damascus to retreat, according to opposition activists.
Negotiations brokered by international envoy Kofi Annan led to the truce and a deployment of a small number of United Nations observers to the nation to monitor the cease-fire.
The first members of the observer team started their monitoring of the tenuous cease-fire this week.
They will be "liaising with the Syrian government, security forces and the opposition members to establish the monitoring process across the country," said Kieran Dwyer, a spokesman for the United Nations peacekeeping missions.
Despite a relative drop in reported deaths immediately after the Thursday cease-fire deadline, violence persists in Syria, with dozens killed Tuesday on the 66th anniversary of the country's independence from France.
At least 70 people died across the country Tuesday, the opposition Local Coordination Committees of Syria said.
Most of those slain were found in Idlib province and Homs, Daraa and Damascus. Some of the Idlib fatalities were killed during Monday shelling, but their bodies were not discovered and identified until Tuesday, the opposition group said.
CNN cannot independently verify reports of violence and deaths because the government has restricted access by international media.
As the violence continued, wives of U.N. ambassadors from Britain and Germany urged Syria's first lady to "stop your husband" in his yearlong bid to quash the uprising.
The roughly four-minute video posted on YouTube juxtaposes pictures of an elegant Asma al-Assad against images of other Syrian women, dead and wounded children.
"We want her (al-Assad) to speak out for the end of violence. That is what we want. Stop the bloodshed. Stop it now. We know this is a risk for you, but take this risk," said Huberta von Voss-Wittig, the wife of Germany's U.N. ambassador.
The state-run Syrian Arab News Agency has blamed "armed terrorist groups" for the violence and said aggression by the groups had "hysterically escalated" since the start of the cease-fire.
But activist groups have cited daily killings by government forces.
"I think it's clear that over the last several days, particularly since Saturday, the violence has escalated," U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Susan Rice told CNN's Chief International Correspondent Christiane Amanpour.
Rice said the cease-fire is not holding, but reiterated the U.S. opposition to military intervention in Syria.
"We're rightly very apprehensive about increasing the militarization of this conflict. It's already a hot war. It could spill over," she said.
Syria has been engulfed in violence for 13 months as a national uprising spread after the government began cracking down on peaceful protests. The United Nations estimates at least 9,000 people have died since the protests began, while others put the death toll at more than 11,000.
The United States and the United Nations have decried the bloody crackdown amid international calls for al-Assad to leave office.
Russia, long a staunch ally of Syria, and China have thwarted tough U.N. Security Council action against Damascus, including calls for the president to step down.
Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem "will pay a working visit to China" on Wednesday at the invitation of Chinese foreign minister, China's state-run Xinhua news agency said.
A group focused on imposing sanctions against the Syrian regime convened in Paris on Tuesday, a meeting co-chaired by France, Morocco and a European Union unit.
The International Working Group on Sanctions reiterated moves made in Tunis by the Friends of the Syrian People to implement various "restrictive measures." It strongly disapproved "of any financial and other support to the Syrian regime and in particular ongoing arms sales."
CNN's Kamal Ghattas contributed to this report.
