The United Nations said on July 25 that 150 members of its unarmed military observer mission had left Syria because of the intensified fighting in the country.
"We will try to work towards contributing to a political solution, which would help alleviate all the suffering," Herve Ladsous, chief of UN peacekeeping operations, said in Damascus. "We, of course, have to take into account the security situation, which in many places is extremely delicate."
Ladsous said the escalating conflict remains the "utmost concern" for the UN, as it was reducing by half the number of observers deployed since April in Syria to monitor a ceasefire, which was ignored by all parties in the conflict, dpa reported.
Ladsous went to Damascus with Lieutenant General Babacar Gaye of Nigeria, who replaced General Robert Mood as head of the UN Supervision Mission in Syria