Un Observers In Syria

The UN's Syria envoy said on Monday he has planned peace talks for February in Geneva, as the UN Security Council voted to deploy observers to war-ravaged Aleppo.

The Security Council will let the mandate for the UN military observer mission in Syria expire on Sunday and will back a new civilian office there to support UN and Arab League efforts to end the country's 18-month conflict.

Syrian rebel forces were bracing today for the "mother of all battles" in Aleppo, as the former UN observer mission chief said President Bashar al-Assad's fall was a matter of time.

Escalating violence in Syria forced United Nations observers to suspend operations on Saturday, in the clearest sign yet that a peace plan brokered by international mediator Kofi Annan has collapsed.

UN monitors entered the Syrian hamlet of Mazraat al-Qubeir on Friday, where up to 78 people were reported killed in cold blood two days earlier and a BBC correspondent with them said it was clear a "terrible crime" had taken place.

UN monitors trying to get to the scene of a new massacre in Syria were shot at, UN leader Ban Ki-moon said on Thursday, calling the latest atrocity "shocking and sickening." Ban discussed the attack on the UN monitors in a speech to the UN General Assembly hours after the reported slaughter of dozens of people in the village of Al-Kubeir.

A roadside blast hit troops escorting the UN observers in Syria's south on Wednesday, a day after envoy Kofi Annan warned that his peace plan could be the last chance to avoid civil war.

European nations and Russia proposed rival U.N. resolutions on Friday morning, both calling for expanding the number of U.N. cease-fire monitors in Syria from 30 to 300 but disagreeing on possible sanctions and on how quickly the larger observer force should get on the ground.

UN monitors arriving in Syria are starting a perilous mission as there is no formal ceasefire between President Bashar al-Assad and opposition forces, diplomats said.

The UN's Syria envoy said on Monday he has planned peace talks for February in Geneva, as the UN Security Council voted to deploy observers to war-ravaged Aleppo.

The Security Council will let the mandate for the UN military observer mission in Syria expire on Sunday and will back a new civilian office there to support UN and Arab League efforts to end the country's 18-month conflict.

Syrian rebel forces were bracing today for the "mother of all battles" in Aleppo, as the former UN observer mission chief said President Bashar al-Assad's fall was a matter of time.

Escalating violence in Syria forced United Nations observers to suspend operations on Saturday, in the clearest sign yet that a peace plan brokered by international mediator Kofi Annan has collapsed.

UN monitors entered the Syrian hamlet of Mazraat al-Qubeir on Friday, where up to 78 people were reported killed in cold blood two days earlier and a BBC correspondent with them said it was clear a "terrible crime" had taken place.

UN monitors trying to get to the scene of a new massacre in Syria were shot at, UN leader Ban Ki-moon said on Thursday, calling the latest atrocity "shocking and sickening." Ban discussed the attack on the UN monitors in a speech to the UN General Assembly hours after the reported slaughter of dozens of people in the village of Al-Kubeir.

A roadside blast hit troops escorting the UN observers in Syria's south on Wednesday, a day after envoy Kofi Annan warned that his peace plan could be the last chance to avoid civil war.

European nations and Russia proposed rival U.N. resolutions on Friday morning, both calling for expanding the number of U.N. cease-fire monitors in Syria from 30 to 300 but disagreeing on possible sanctions and on how quickly the larger observer force should get on the ground.

UN monitors arriving in Syria are starting a perilous mission as there is no formal ceasefire between President Bashar al-Assad and opposition forces, diplomats said.