Syrian foreign Minister stressed on Monday his country’s determination to facilitate the UN observers’ mission aimed at ending the ongoing crisis.

Syrian foreign Minister stressed on Monday his country’s determination to facilitate the UN observers’ mission aimed at ending the ongoing crisis.

As he met with the head of the UN mission, Gen. Robert Mood, Walid al-Moallem said Damascus would continue to facilitate the mission's task within the lines of the authority it was given, according to state news agency, SANA.

The “is a need for the mission's work to be objective and professional to relay the reality of the situation in Syria to the international community away from the politicizing taking place at the Security Council regarding the Syrian issue”, the agency quoted Moallem as saying.

SANA also reported that Mood said there was cooperation from the Syrian side “in facilitating the mission's work and guaranteeing its freedom of movement”, as he briefed the Syrian FM on the mission's work and its progress.

MORE OBSERVERS TO DEPLOY
For his part, Spokesman of the mission to Syria, Niraj Singh, said that the monitors continued to carry out their tasks, adding that there were more observers to arrive in the country next week to join the 70 others already existing on the ground.

In a statement to the journalists in front of the UNRWA headquarters in Damascus, Singh noted that that the observers were divided into teams and centered in a number of Syrian provinces.

The spokesman specified that there were four observers in each of Homs, Hama, Daraa and Idleb provinces, in addition to three teams operating in Damascus and its countryside, according to SANA.

“CIVIL WAR”
On the other hand, UN Chief Ban Ki-moon warned also on Monday that the international powers were “in race against time” to prevent all-out civil war in Syria.

Speaking ahead of a key UN Security Council meeting on Syria on Tuesday, Ban “condemned” the "brutality" of President Bashar al-Assad's forces but said attacks by opposition groups have also "escalated."

"We are in a race against time to prevent full-scale civil war -- death on a potentially massive scale", Ban said according to AFP, describing the mission of the UN envoy Kofi Annan as “difficult mission at a difficult time”.  

Ban said Assad's government must carry out Annan's six-point peace plan, including the withdrawal of troops and guns from cities, "without further delay."

"Only a comprehensive and inclusive political dialogue can lead to a genuine democratic future in Syria", he said in a statement released by his office.

The UN chief also criticized the parliamentary elections which took place on Monday, saying the poll was “not taking place within that framework".
Annan is due to brief the Security Council on Tuesday, from 1400 GMT, as part of his peace plan.