U.N.-Arab League peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi (L) and Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov walk during their meeting in Moscow October 29, 2012 (Photo: Reuters)
U.N.-Arab League peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi expressed regret on Monday that a U.N.-brokered truce had not been more successful in Syria but said he would not let this discourage his peace efforts.
"The situation is bad and getting worse," Brahimi told reporters, lamenting that a truce he had helped broker over the Eid al-Adha holiday had collapsed.
Brahimi also said after talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow that there was no immediate plan to send U.N. peacekeepers to the Middle East country, but just the contingency planning as this may indeed become a possibility in the future.
Headded that the crisis in the war-torn state is going for "bad to worse".
"I am terribly sorry ... that this appeal (for a truce) has not been heard to the level we hoped it would, but that will not discourage us. It will not discourage us because Syria is very important and the people of Syria deserve our support and interest," he told a news conference.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad kept up air strikes against rebels on Monday, the final day of a truce that has been broken by air attacks and fighting between the two sides across the country.
Brahimi will visit Beijing after Moscow, China's Foreign Ministry said. The two countries have vetoed three U.N. resolutions condemning Assad's government for the violence.
"We think this civil war must end ... and the new Syria has to be built by all its sons," Brahimi said. "The support of Russia and other members of the Security Council is indispensable."
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