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A Syrian rebel fighter looks at smoke billowing from a bus that caught on fire after a regime sniper allegedly shot at it in the northern city of Aleppo on October 28, 2012. (Javier Manzano/AFP/Getty Images)
The ceasefire that was to be observed by both sides in the Syria conflict during the Eid al-Adha Muslim holiday never really took off, lamented United Nations officials on Monday, the day the holiday ends.
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon reiterated his concern over the conflict that has left more than 30,000 people dead.
“I am deeply disappointed that the parties failed to respect the call to suspend fighting,” Ban said, according to a release. “This crisis cannot be solved with more weapons and bloodshed.”
Meanwhile in Damascus, the Syrian capital, two deadly bomb attacks occurred, according to state-run television SANA.
“For this [ceasefire] to happen, the guns must fall silent,” Ban added. “I call once again for the parties to immediately stop the fighting.”
The Syrian government and rebels agreed to a truce that was brokered by U.N.-Arab League envoy Lakhdar Brahimi ahead of the three-day holiday, but it was shattered just after it was agreed upon.
“The situation is bad and is getting worse and the entire international community has got to come together and help the people of Syria find solutions to the crisis,” Brahimi said while meeting Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Monday.
There were also reports of air strikes carried out by Syrian warplanes in Damascus and other areas and fighting between regime and rebel forces, leaving little hope for diplomacy in the conflict that has entered its 19th month in mid-October.
Brahimi, however, said that he would not be discouraged or stop trying to find a diplomatic solution to the crisis.
Each day of the Eid holiday was peppered with reports of bomb attacks, shootouts, and civilian deaths across the country, according to the pro-opposition Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and the activist Local Coordination Committees network. The network estimates that around 320 people were killed since Friday, the day the ceasefire was to begin.
Some 128 people were killed Sunday, the third day of the Eid holiday, with nearly half in and around Damascus, the Committees said. The Syrian army broke the ceasefire in 416 areas across the country Monday, it said, without giving details on whether the rebels did the same.
The Syrian government said the bomb attacks in the Damascus suburb of Al-Rawda on Monday were carried out by “terrorists” and killed 11 people, according to state media. Another bombing in the suburb of Al-Hajar Al-Aswad left several injured.
“As long as the international community remains at odds, the needs, attacks and suffering will only grow,” Ban said, while repeating his plea to the U.N. Security Council countries to come up with a plan in dealing with the crisis. Russia and China have vetoed three Western-backed resolutions on Syria.
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