Syria on Sunday vowed to attack armed rebels and foreign aggressors hard as the international community continuously worked for a settlement of its protracted crisis.

Information Minister Omran al-Zoubi said his country would bypass the crisis and defeat foreign aggression, urging all opposition groups to move immediately to political work "as time is running short."

He denied reports that Russia put pressure on Syria, stressing that there was no change in the Russian attitude toward Syria.

Al-Zoubi also revealed that Syria had evidences about Turkish interference in Syria.

On the same day, the Syrian army's general command pledged to hunt down armed militias and hit "with an iron fist" all those who dare to tamper with the security and stability of Syria, the state-run SANA news agency reported.

The army command said in a statement that recent rebel attacks reflected the bankruptcy of the assailants after the army dealt them heavy blows.

Also on Sunday, Syrian army troops foiled armed militias' attempt to detonate a 50-kg explosive device inside al-Nahda Hospital in Damascus's suburb of Daraya.

They also discovered a field hospital of an "armed terrorist group" set up at a private school of al-Ebaa al-Arabi with stolen medical equipment and drugs.

On the opposition side, the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said dozens of people were killed in an airstrike in the town of Helfaya in the central province of Hama.

It also reported clashes and violence in several other Syrian areas, putting the initial death toll of Sunday's chaos at more than 50. But the figure could not be independently verified.

Despite the escalating violence, the international community did not stop its efforts to end the bloodshed in Syria.

UN-Arab League special representative Lakhdar Brahimi arrived in the Syrian capital of Damascus Sunday on a brief visit for meetings with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and other officials on the situation in Syria, sources said.

The aim of the visit was said to discuss a new initiative to solve the 21-month crisis in Syria, whose details remain undeclared.

At the same time, Bahrain was gearing up to host the 33rd Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Summit, which would focus on the Syrian crisis, military cooperation, economic unity and environmental protection, according to Bahrain's Foreign Minister Shaikh Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa.

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