Kofi Annan admits defeat as Syrian death toll rises

Syrian forces pounded Aleppo and Deir Ezzor provinces as at least 35 people, including 17 civilians, were killed yesterday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

The violence followed a bloody day in which 77 people were killed on Saturday - 39 civilians, 25 soldiers and 13 rebels - according to the Britain-based watchdog.

Regime forces yesterday shelled the villages of Miadin and Al-Tabeya Jazeera in the eastern province of Deir Ezzor, killing three people, two of them children. Heavy shelling was also reported in Aazaz town in the northern province of Aleppo, with explosions heard from far outside the town. Six people were killed in gunfire in the village of Sahel al-Ghab in the central province of Hama and a woman was killed in random shooting in the Damascus countryside.

In Idlib province, in the northwest, the army killed two rebels in the town of Khan Sheikhun, the watchdog said, citing activists. And a rebel was killed in the southern province of Daraa.

Since the beginning of an attempted ceasefire on April 12, a key point in the peace plan of UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan, 5898 people have been killed. On Saturday, Mr Annan acknowledged the failure of his mission to bring peace to the country. He will visit Damascus today.

An estimated 17,000 people have been killed in Syria since the the revolt against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad began in March last year.