Syrian air raids end truce that never was

MOSCOW // The United Nations-Arab League special envoy Lakhdar Brahimi expressed his regret yesterday at the failure of the Eid truce in Syria as regime warplanes launched the most intense air raids since the uprising began 19 months ago.

Hostilities barely paused during the four-day holiday and activists said 60 air strikes hit rebel targets around the country yesterday, with the suburbs of the capital Damascus particularly hard hit.

Mr Brahimi said he was "terribly sorry" that the truce had "not been heard to the level we hoped it would".

"The government has made an announcement that they were going to stop fighting … and quite a few of the opposition groups did the same, so now each side is accusing the other of breaking the ceasefire," the envoy said after talks in Moscow with the Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov.

Rami Abdul-Rahman, who heads the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, said the Syrian military was trying to compensate for recent losses on the ground with air strikes.

"Today has seen the most intense air raids across Syria since the start of the uprising," he said.

At least 420 people were killed over the four-day period, with the death toll yesterday reaching 80, according to the Observatory.

A government official said a car bomb killed 10 people on the outskirts of Damascus and TV footage showed firemen fighting the blaze amid wide destruction after parts of balconies fell on cars parked on a residential street. As smoke billowed, a woman was seen running away with children from the area of the blast and electricity cables dangled from poles. Activists said the air raids were launched both before and after the car bomb and were still under way.

"More than 100 buildings have been destroyed, some levelled to the ground," said opposition activist Moaz Al Shami, who said he had witnessed three air raids in the northeastern suburb of Harasta alone. "Whole neighbourhoods are deserted."

"Even electricity poles have been hit and they are lying among pools of water from burst pipes. There is no food, water, electricity or telephones."

Another car bomb later exploded in a Damascus neighbourhood where rebels are active, and state-run news agency said there were many casualties.

The Damascus air raids followed what residents said were failed attempts by troops to storm eastern parts of the city.

"Tanks are deployed around Harat Al Shwam but they haven't been able to go in. They tried a week ago," said an activist who lives near the area.

The Observatory also reported clashes and shelling in other parts of the country including the northwestern province of Idlib that borders Turkey, where it said warplanes carried out 11 air raids on several villages. Amateur videos showed warplanes in the skies, then giant mushroom clouds of smoke after the missiles hit.

Each side blamed the other for breaking the truce.

"I am deeply disappointed that the parties failed to respect the call to suspend fighting," UN chief Ban Ki-moon said in South Korea, where he received the Seoul Peace Prize.

"This crisis cannot be solved with more weapons and bloodshed … the guns must fall silent."

Mr Brahimi, who will visit Beijing after Moscow, said the renewed violence in Syria would not discourage him.

"We think this civil war must end … and the new Syria has to be built by all its sons," he said. "The support of Russia and other members of the Security Council is indispensable."

Russia and China have vetoed three western-backed UN draft resolutions condemning the regime of Bashar Al Assad's government for the violence.

Beijing, keen to show it does not take sides in Syria, has urged Damascus to talk to the opposition and meet demands for political change. It has advocated a transitional government.

Asked whether the United Nations might send peacekeepers to Syria, Mr Brahimi said: "There is no plan for the moment to send a peacekeeping mission, but just the contingency planning, because this may indeed become a possibility in the future."

Big-power rifts have paralysed UN action over Syria, but Mr Al Assad's political and armed opponents are also deeply divided, a problem their western allies say has complicated efforts to provide greater support.

Syrian opposition figures, including Free Syrian Army commanders, started three days of talks in Istanbul yesterday in the latest attempt to unite the disparate groups.

* Reporting by the Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters