UN chief 'deeply concerned' by Syria violence

UN chief Ban Ki-moon said today he was "deeply concerned" by ongoing violence in Syria, urging both sides to stick to a ceasefire and to troubled peace talks in Geneva.
"I am deeply concerned about developments on the ground, especially the attacks in Damascus yesterday and Aleppo overnight," Ban said in Vienna.
"The cessation of hostilities should go on, otherwise it will be very difficult for humanitarian workers to deliver," he told reporters.
A barrage of air strikes on rebel-held areas of Syria's second city Aleppo and a town to its west killed at least 19 people, emergency workers said today.

Yesterday a car bomb killed at least seven people near a revered Shiite shrine of south of Damascus, Syrian state television reported.
The violence severely threatens a February 27 ceasefire brokered by the United States and Russia and comes as UN-brokered peace talks in Geneva stall.
Syria's main opposition group, the High Negotiations Committee (HNC) halted its formal participation this week in the Geneva talks, which started on April 13.
Syria's war began as a pro-democracy revolt in 2011, but later morphed into a civil war that has left more than 270,000 people dead after the regime unleashed a brutal crackdown against dissent.