Syrian Observatory: Nearly 60 Killed in Syria Despite Ceasefire

Nearly 60 people were reported killed in violence across Syria on Monday despite a hard-won ceasefire and the upcoming deployment of 300 U.N. observers to monitor the truce, a watchdog said.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Tuesday a total 54 civilians and five soldiers were killed in various provinces.

Thirty-one of the civilians died in a government assault on the Arbaeen neighborhood in the central city of Hama and 13 others, including women and children, died blast in the village of Jarjanaz, in northwest Idlib province.

Video posted online by activists showed a street in Arbaeen with large pools of blood and women weeping. Two young girls are shown in one video crying and holding the picture of a man.

"This is my father," cries one girl.

The violence occurred despite a ceasefire that went into effect on April 12 and the presence of an advance team of UN monitors to implement the truce.

The Observatory said clashes took place Tuesday at dawn between government forces and rebel troops in a suburb of Damascus.

Gunfire and explosions were also heard in the northern suburb of Douma.

The persistent bloodshed 12 days into a ceasefire has sparked growing criticism from opposition activists of the fledgling U.N. mission, which still numbers just 11 observers out of a planned initial deployment of 30.