A prominent Syrian actress has been actively backing the eight-month-old uprising against the country's government, which is blamed for a military crackdown on protests that the UN says has left thousands of people dead.

Fadwa Soliman belongs to the country's minority Alawite sect, the same branch of Islam as the country's ruling Assad family.

She has been in the flashpoint city of Homs for weeks, urging more people to take part in the revolution while on the run from authorities.

Nisreen El-Shamayleh reports from Amman, the capital of neighbouring Jordan, on the actress-turned-activist who has been disowned by her own family for her leading role in the protest movement.