Violence continues in Syria

EDIT CONTAINS 4:3 MATERIAL

The latest amateur video uploaded to a social media website from Syria shows continued violence... vehicles belonging to the Syrian army are on fire, after an attack by rebel forces.

Reuters cannot independetly verify the content of the video.

United Nations monitors have been on the ground for weeks now, but little seems to have changed. Here residents ask why a Syrian armoured vehicle has not yet been removed from this neighbourhood.

Sustained violence in the country, nearly four weeks after a ceasefire deal brokered by mediator Kofi Annan, has led to warnings from the Red Cross, the Arab League and Annan himself that the country is slipping into civil war.

In Japan the Syrian opposition leader is meeting with foreign ministers and says the inability to implement Annan's plan is threatening international support of a peaceful resolution.

(SOUNDBITE) (French) CHAIRMAN OF SYRIAN NATIONAL COUNCIL BURHAN GHALIOUN SAYING:

"The inability to apply Annan's plans by the Syrian authorities risks seeing the collapse of the international initiative on which everyone counted on to get Syria out (of it's current predicament)."

For U.N. observers on the ground, the direness of the situation became crystal clear Wednesday after a bomb exploded near a convoy led by Major General Robert Mood.

(SOUNDBITE) (English) MAJOR GENERAL ROBERT MOOD, CHIEF OF THE UNITED NATIONS SUPERVISION MISSION IN SYRIA (UNSMIS), SAYING:

"This is exactly the graphic example of the kind of violence that is challenging the life of the Syrian population everyday in many cities around the country."

Annan's truce was part of a wider plan aimed at ending 14 months of unrest between anti-government forces and those loyal to President Bashar al-Assad.

Julie Noce, Reuters