The International Committee of the Red Cross said today fighting has been so intense in parts of Syria that at times the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad has qualified as a civil war. ICRC President Jakob Kellenberger said he remained very worried about the situation in Syria, where U.N. observers are monitoring a shaky ceasefire between government forces and rebels. On Monday U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said the conflict in Syria has become the most serious and gravest concern of the international community.

Ban Ki-moon: “More than 9,000 people have been killed during the last 14 months. This is a totally unacceptable and intolerable situation. The situation has reached to that. Our priority at this time is, by deploying this supervision mission as soon as possible, the cessation of — violence must stop by all of the parties, either government military forces or operation forces. This should be stopped.”