BREAKING NEWS

Chief UN observer to Syria leaves as mission ends

By REUTERS

JULY 19, 2012 12:55

DAMASCUS - Major General Robert Mood left his hotel in Damascus on Thursday to fly to Geneva after a 90-day UN peace monitoring mission to Syria ended, even as battles between forces loyal to President Bashar Assad and rebels raged in parts of the capital.

The observers' mandate ends on Friday, but the United Nations' 15-nation Security Council is set to decide later on Thursday whether it should be extended for 45 days.

"I leave satisfied that I, and some 400 brave women and men, have done our best, under very challenging circumstances," Mood, who led the UN mission, told a news conference in the Dama Rose hotel.

"For the sake of the Syrian people we need effective leadership from the Security Council and genuine unity around a political plan that meets the aspirations of the Syrian people and that is accepted by the Parties," Mood said.

"Government and opposition must be willing to make the necessary concessions and sit at the negotiating table," he added, saying there was no hope for the crisis to be resolved through fighting.

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