Ceasefire Fails in Syria

More than 500 people were killed in Syria during what had been proposed as a four-day ceasefire to mark the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha. The truce never took hold as fighting continued even as humanitarian agencies struggled to deliver relief to those trapped by the conflict. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that Syrian warplanes struck a rebel-held town on the Damascus-Aleppo highway and that fighting continued in a Palestinian refugee camp near Damascus. Heavy fighting around the Syrian city of Homs prevented a U.N. aid mission from delivering food and other relief items to families trapped in the city. “All parties on the ground contacted in advance of the mission expressed in principle willingness to allow aid through the front lines,” said a U.N. spokesperson. “However, immediate delivery was prevented by active conflict and logistical complications, such as lack of safe location to off-load the goods.”