U.N. observers remain idle in Syria after halting operations due to unsafe conditions. In a briefing to the U.N. Security Council, the head of the observer mission, General Robert Mood, said his monitors were repeatedly attacked before he decided to suspend their mission.

Robert Mood: “Violence, including shelling, small arms fire and other incidents, are coming much closer, and we have been targeted several times over the last few weeks. This violence to the UNMOS, in itself, but also because it made it very difficult to execute the mandated activities of my mission, led me to the decision a few days ago to halt the activities of UNSMIS.”