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UN Envoy Says Syria Situation Worsening


Switzerland's Joel Gisler jumps during a freestyle skiing training session in the halfpipe at the Rosa Khutor Extreme Park, Feb. 17, 2014.
Switzerland's Joel Gisler jumps during a freestyle skiing training session in the halfpipe at the Rosa Khutor Extreme Park, Feb. 17, 2014.
U.N.-Arab League envoy Lakhdar Brahimi says the situation in Syria is getting worse, and that the international community must unite to help the Syrian people find a solution to the 19-month crisis.

After talks Monday in Moscow with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Brahimi said he was sorry a holiday cease-fire did not take hold, but that the failure would not discourage efforts to find a solution.

"We shall continue to work as hard as we possibly can, and in cooperation with everybody inside Syria and outside of Syria, to bring the level of violence down, put an end to it and launch Syria on the road to building the new Syria," Brahimi said.

The envoy also said the United Nations is not sending a peacekeeping operation to Syria.

He had called for the Syrian government and rebels opposed to President Bashar al-Assad to observe a truce during the Muslim Eid al-Adha holiday, but both sides continued fighting.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 110 Syrians were killed in fighting Sunday.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon expressed deep disappointment that the cease-fire failed to take hold.

During a speech Monday in South Korea, Ban called on the international community to do more to help stop the fighting.

He said that as long as there are international divisions, the suffering of the Syrian people will only grow.
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