SANA via EPA
People at the site of a car bomb explosion in southern Damascus on Monday.
EDITOR'S NOTE: Picture released by the state-run Syrian Arab News Agency.
By NBC News wire services
AMMAN, Jordan -- Syrian jets bombed suburbs of Damascus and a car bomb killed 10 people in the capital on Monday, the last day of a four-day truce that U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon acknowledged had failed.
Each side blamed the other for breaching the Eid al-Adha truce arranged by international envoy Lakhdar Brahimi, who nevertheless promised to pursue his peace efforts.
"I am deeply disappointed that the parties failed to respect the call to suspend fighting," Ban said in Seoul, where he was visiting to receive the Seoul Peace Prize.
"This crisis cannot be solved with more weapons and bloodshed ... the guns must fall silent," he said.
Brahimi, after meeting Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow, voiced regret that the cease-fire had not worked better. Asked whether U.N. peacekeepers might be sent to Syria, he said there was no immediate plan for that.
Watchdog: 420 people killed since Friday
Although President Bashar Assad's government and several rebel groups accepted the plan to stop shooting over the Muslim religious holiday, it failed to stem the bloodshed in a 19-month-old conflict that has already cost at least 32,000 lives.
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition watchdog, 420 people have been killed since Friday.
/
A look back at the violence that has overtaken the country
Damascus residents reported heavy air raids on the suburbs of Qaboun, Zamalka and Irbin overnight and on Monday that they said were the fiercest since jets and helicopters first bombarded pro-opposition parts of the Syrian capital in August.
Syrian state television said women and children were among those killed or wounded by a "terrorist car bomb" near a bakery in Jaramana, in the southeast of Damascus. Damascus residents say the district is controlled by Assad loyalists.
More photos: Car bomb hits Syrian capital as truce comes to bloody end
Accusations exchanged
State media said Assad's armed opponents had broken the truce throughout the Eid.
"For the fourth consecutive day, the armed terrorist groups in Deir al-Zor continued violating the declaration on suspending military operations which the armed forces have committed to," state news said, later adding that rebels had attacked government forces in Aleppo and the central city of Homs.
The Damascus air raids followed what residents said were failed attempts by troops storm eastern parts of the city.
After decades of oppression, Kurds get taste of freedom as Assad's troops flee
"Tanks are deployed around Harat al-Shwam (district) but they haven't been able to go in. They tried a week ago," said an activist who lives near the area and who asked not to be named.
Government forces launched airstrikes around Damascus Saturday, flattening buildings. NBC's Lester Holt reports.
Big power conflicts
Brahimi, who will visit Beijing after Moscow, said the renewed violence in Syria would not discourage him.
"We think this civil war must end ... and the new Syria has to be built by all its sons," he said. "The support of Russia and other members of the Security Council is indispensable."
Russia and China have vetoed three Western-backed U.N. draft resolutions condemning Assad's government for the violence.
Complete World coverage on NBCNews.com
Beijing has been keen to show it does not take sides in Syria and has urged the government there to talk to the opposition and take steps to meet demands for political change. It has said a transitional government should be formed.
Big-power rifts have paralyzed U.N. action over Syria, but Assad's political and armed opponents are also deeply divided, a problem that their Western allies say has complicated efforts to provide greater support.
NBC News
People resisting the army of President Bashar al-Assad in northern Syria cope with loss and prepare for fighting.
"There has been a lack of desire to take the tough decisions," said Salman Shaikh, director of the Brookings Doha Center think tank.
Experts: Greece riskier for investors than war-torn Syria
"In Washington, they've only been focused on the narrow political goal of their own elections, trying to convince a war-wary public inside the U.S. that we are actually disengaging from the conflicts of the Middle East," he said.
Syrian opposition figures, including Free Syrian Army commanders, started three days of talks in Istanbul on Monday in the latest attempt to unite the disparate groups.
Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
More world stories from NBC News:
Follow World News from NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook
E-mail updates
Follow on Twitter
Subscribe to RSS