Assad announces reforms as crackdown continues President Bashar al Assad announced a timetable for political reform on Wednesday, even as his forces killed at least ten more people, according to activists, in violence now shaking most of the country. State news said that a referendum on long-promised constitutional amendments allowing for a multiparty system would take place on the 26th February, and that parliamentary elections would be held 90 days afterwards if the new constitution was approved. Russia, which has been urging Mr Assad to reform as it becomes increasingly isolated in its opposition to security council measures against his regime, welcomed the announcement. "A new constitution to end one-party rule in Syria is a step forward," said foreign minister Sergei Lavrov. It is coming late unfortunately, but better late than never. But Najib Ghadbian, an official from the Syrian National Council (SNC), the main umbrella group of opponents to Mr Assad, dismissed the reform programme as "irrelevant," given the backdrop of rising violence. "Is this new constitution going to include something about how they should not bombard Syria?" he asked. The regime's bloody 12-day assault on strongholds of armed opposition in the central city of Homs continued on Wednesday. An pipeline supplying the refinery there was hit by an explosion, which the regime blamed on "terrorists." Activists also reported a bombardment further north in Hama, one of the centres of dissent in Syria's 11 month-old uprising, where armed opponents of the regime are said to have an increasing presence. Rami Abdulrahman of the London-based Syrian Human Rights Observatory said that residents in two neighbourhoods of Hama heard explosions on Wednesday morning. The Local Coordination Committees, an activist network, said that a number of neighbourhoods had seen "intensive shelling by several kinds of heavy weapons." It was difficult to confirm further information from Hama as phone lines and the internet appeared to have been cut off. The violence came as France said it had started negotiating a new security council resolution with Russia, after the last proposal was vetoed by Moscow and Bejiing. A contact group of Arab and other states called the "Friends of Syria" is due to meet next week in Tunis. The SNC hopes to be recognised by at least some of these countries as the sole legitimate representative of the Syrian people. The SNC has struggled to provide a cohesive leadership for the uprising. SNC officials met in Qatar on Wednesday to decide on whether to extend the mandate of Burhan Ghalioun, the Paris-based sociologist currently occupying the rotating presidency, or whether to select a new leader. "Until the issue of leadership is sealed and bound and dealt with, with no major splits, I don't think they're going to get recognition," said Amr al Azm, a US-based opposition activist.