Violent clashes have raged on since the early hours Wednesday in a number of Syrian cities and mainly around the Syrian capital of Damascus, which appeared to have been lulled into a false sense of security over the past couple of weeks, while the new special joint envoy for Syria warned of staggering crisis. The sounds of sporadic shellfire have reverberated across the capital since Tuesday night until early hours Wednesday. Witnesses said the Syrian army has been hammering the Damascus suburb of Mlaiha, fighting with armed rebels, and confiscating large amounts of weapons and ammunition. The shelling spree has also stretched to a number of suburbs in the southern part of Damascus, such as Yalda and Hajar al-Aswad. On the opposition side, the Local Coordination Committees (LCC), an activists' group, said the eastern town of al-Bukamal, on the borders with Iraq, has been under warplane shelling. The area has spun largely out of government control lately. It said 43 people, including women and children, had been killed in the northern Aleppo province since early hours Wednesday due to "indiscriminate shelling by the government troops" on a number of neighborhoods in the conflict-stricken province. It alleged that 63 people had been killed nationwide on Wednesday. However, such tallies are impossible of being checked independently. Aleppo has emerged as a scene for violence clashes between army forces and the Western-backed armed rebels, making it very difficult to determine exactly which party is fully responsible for the incessant bloodshed. While the violence seems incessant in Syria, the new UN-Arab League envoy for Syria Lakhdar Brahimi said the death toll in the conflict is "staggering" and the destruction "catastrophic". Addressing the UN General Assembly meeting Tuesday, Brahimi called for unity in addressing the Syria crisis. He also revealed he will travel to Syria in the next few days and needs support for his mission from the international community. Bashar al-Jaafari, the Syrian permanent representative to the United Nations, said Tuesday that his country would fully cooperate with Brahimi. Speaking at the UN General Assembly's meeting, Jaafari said "My country, Syria, agreed to the appointment of Mr. Lakhdar Brahimi as the special representative of the United Nations secretary- general," adding that "my country declared its full preparedness to cooperate with him with a view to bringing about a success of his efforts." Also on Tuesday, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem called for halting violence and launching comprehensive dialogue to end the domestic crisis. Al-Moallem made the remarks during his meeting with visiting Philippines' Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario, during which al-Moallem stressed Syria's stance which calls for halting violence from all sides, stopping foreign interference in its affairs and launching a comprehensive dialogue that would help active participation in building the future of Syria. The recent developments have come while the head of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) Peter Maurer arrived in Syria Monday for a three-day visit aimed to discuss the humanitarian situation in Syria with top Syrian officials, including the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who told Maurer Tuesday that his administration welcomes the humanitarian efforts of the ICRC "so long as it carries out its work independently with evenhandedness." Xinhuanet
