The UN Security Council unanimously approved on Friday a 30-day extension to a UN monitoring mission in Syria that had been deployed as part of international envoy Kofi Annan's peace plan to end the 16-month conflict that has killed thousands.

The UN Syria mission has up to 300 unarmed military observers whose role has been to monitor a failed April 12 ceasefire in Syria. Most of their monitoring activity was suspended on June 16 due to increased risk from rising violence.

There are also some 100 civilian staff working toward a political solution and monitoring issues like human rights.