UN: ‘observers alone cannot solve Syrian conflict’

The leader of the UN observer team in Syria says the mission will fail without genuine talks between the two sides involved in the conflict.

Events are hard to verify but amateur video shows continuing violence despite the presence of around 260 UN personnel on the ground.

Major General Robert Mood said: “No volume of observers can achieve a progressive drop and a permanent end to the violence, if the commitment to give a dialogue a chance is not genuine from all the internal and external actors.”

Latest footage purports to show the town of Rastan being shelled by government forces on Friday. The group who filmed it said that was part of an offensive by President Bashar al-Assad’s regime that has been going on for days as they try to take back control of the town which as been in the hands of rebels since January.

The international community is still pinning its hopes on a peace plan for Syria brokered by special envoy Kofi Annan in April.

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