Syrian warplanes on October 23 struck a strategic rebel-held town in the country’s north in an attempt to reopen a key supply route, activists said, as a UN-proposed cease-fire meant to start this week appeared increasingly unlikely to take hold. The UN-Arab League envoy to Syria has suggested that both sides in Syria’s 19-month-old conflict lay down their arms during Eid Al-Adha. However, neither Syrian President Bashar Assad nor rebels fighting to topple him have committed to a truce, and international envoy Lakhdar Brahimi has not said how such a truce would be monitored.
Syria’s stalemated civil war, which has frequently spilled over Syria’s borders and threatens to destabilise an already volatile region, featured prominently in the final pre-election debate between President Barack Obama and his Republican challenger, Mitt Romney. Both men said they would not send US troops to Syria, but Romney pledged to help arm Syria’s rebels after vetting the intended recipients, a stance that earned him praise from Syrian opposition leaders. Obama warned of the risk of giving the rebels heavy weapons that could fall in the wrong hands and later be used against the US or its allies.