Some eastern suburbs of Damascus are controlled by anti-government forcesThe Syrian army has moved to retake control of Damascus suburbs from rebel forces, activists say.
They say troops backed by tanks shelled rebel-held areas to the east and north.
At least 26 people have reportedly been killed this weekend in what activists say is the fiercest fighting around the capital during the 10 month-uprising.
Across Syria, activists said a total of about 60 people were killed on Sunday - a day after the Arab League suspended its month-old monitoring mission.
The government said at least 16 soldiers died in two attacks by armed rebels.
'Urban war'
The latest army offensive started on Saturday in eastern suburbs where rebels from the Free Syrian Army have taken position - including Kfar Batna, Saqba, Jisreen, and Arbeen.
Activists said more than 2,000 troops and 50 tanks joined the operation on Sunday, barely 5km (three miles) from the city centre.
"It's urban war. There are bodies in the street," said one activist, speaking from Kfar Batna.
Activists listed around 60 deaths across Syria. The figure includes at least 16 in the Damascus area, at least 12 around Homs, at least seven in Hama and five in Idlib.
One activist in the eastern Damascus suburn of Saqba said mosques there had been turned into field hospitals.
"They cut off the electricity," the activist told Reuters news agency. "Petrol stations are empty and the army is preventing people from leaving to get fuel for generators or heating."
There were similar reports from the mountain town of Rankous, about 30km (18 miles) to the north.
Anti-government groups said it had become a "disaster zone" with columns of smoke rising from homes hit by shellfire.
Syria's state-run Sana news agency said a roadside bomb planted by an "armed terrorist group" had struck a bus carrying troops near the Damascus suburb of Sahnaya on Sunday, killing six.
Rami Abdul Rahman, head of the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said the fighting was "the most intense near the capital since the uprising began".
"The Syrian regime is trying to finish the uprising militarily now that the case is being taken to the United Nations."
Such reports are difficult to verify because of government restrictions on the media.
Russian oppositionOn Saturday the Arab League announced it was halting its observer mission for the time being, because of the ongoing violence.
The BBC's Jim Muir in neighbouring Lebanon says both the upsurge and the suspension mean that even more attention will be focused on the UN Security Council's efforts next week to get a tough resolution on Syria.
The document, drafted by Arab and European countries, supports the league's call for President Assad to hand power to a deputy who would form a unity government with the opposition.
However Russia, an ally of Mr Assad, has said it will not back the text because it does not rule out foreign intervention.
Mr Arabi is to address the Security Council on Tuesday.
He has also been talking directly to Russian officials to try to persuade them to drop their opposition.
In December the UN said more than 5,000 people had been killed since protests against the government of President Bashar al-Assad first erupted last March.
The league's mission was established in December to monitor Syria's compliance with a plan to end the bloodshed.
Arab countries voted on Tuesday to extend the mission for another month. Since then conservative estimates say about 200 people have been killed.
As the violence escalated several Arab Gulf countries - including Saudi Arabia - decided to withdraw their observers.
Syrian officials says it is fighting armed groups and about 2,000 members of its security forces have been killed in the unrest.
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