78 Dead as Syria Says 'Interested in Exploring' Eid Ceasefire and Opposition Welcomes 'Any Truce'

The Syrian government is interested in exploring a ceasefire in the 19-month conflict as proposed by international envoy Lakhdar Brahimi, foreign ministry spokesman Jihad Maqdisi said on Tuesday, as the opposition Syrian National Council said it “would welcome any halt to the killings.”

Maqdisi stressed that for a halt to the violence, the rebels and their backers would need to be involved too.

"In order to succeed in any initiative, it takes two sides," Maqdisi said in answer to a question from Agence France Presse.

"The Syrian side is interested in exploring this option and we are looking forward to talking to Mr. Brahimi to see what is the position of other influential countries that he talked to in his tour," he said.

"Will they pressure the armed groups that they host and finance and arm in order to abide by such a ceasefire?"

Brahimi, joint envoy of the Arab League and the United Nations, was in Cairo on Tuesday on the latest leg of a regional tour that has already taken him to Turkey and Saudi Arabia, staunch backers of the opposition, and Iran, Syria's closest ally.

He has proposed a truce for the four-day Eid al-Adha Muslim holiday at the end of the month to pave the way for a political process.

Brahimi's office said that the envoy had appealed for Iranian help to broker the truce.

"He reiterated the call by U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon for a ceasefire and a halt to the flow of arms to both sides. A ceasefire, he said, would help create an environment that would allow a political process to develop," his office said.

Meanwhile, Syria's exiled opposition said it would welcome a ceasefire later this month but responsibility lies primarily with the government, SNC chief Abdel Basset Sayda told AFP on Tuesday.

"We would welcome any halt to the killings but we think the appeal needs to be addressed first to the Syrian regime, which has not stopped bombarding Syrian towns and villages," the opposition leader said.

Rebel fighters of the Free Syrian Army "are only acting in self-defense so it is normal that they would halt hostilities when the war machine does so," he added.

Meanwhile, regime forces unleashed multiple air strikes on rebel positions on a key highway.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the pre-dawn air raids around Maaret al-Numan were the "most violent" since insurgents captured the strategic town on the Damascus-Aleppo road last week.

Syrian warplanes targeted the rebel blockade of the highway to Aleppo, theater of intense fighting for the past three months, the Observatory said, adding that rebels responded with anti-aircraft fire.

"Since this morning, there have been 29 air strikes on the area of Maaret al-Numan," said Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman. "Most civilians from the area have fled."

Army shelling of nearby Kafr Nabal killed two children, aged six and 10, said the Observatory, adding they were among at least 78 people who died in bloodshed around the country.

Another five children under the age of six died along with two adults in shelling of homes at Mayadeen village in the eastern province of Deir Ezzor, added the Britain-based group.

The Observatory -- which relies on a network of activists, medics and lawyers for its information -- says children account for 2,300 of the 33,000 people killed in the conflict.

The escalation in Idlib province, which borders Turkey, came as a senior U.S. official visited Ankara for talks on the conflict in Syria amid heightened tensions between the two neighbours.

"We continue to consult with our partners in the region including Turkey on a variety of issues related to Syria," U.S. embassy spokesman in Ankara T.J. Grubisha told AFP.

Tensions between Syria and Turkey have soared as Ankara and Damascus banned flights from each other's airspace after Ankara confiscated a cargo of radar equipment from a Syrian flight from Moscow last week.

On October 3, five Turkish civilians were killed by cross-border fire against the rebels that Syria charges are receiving arms from Gulf Arab states through Turkey.

The United States has called on all Syria's neighbors to monitor their airspace carefully.

"We are encouraging all of Syria's neighbors to be vigilant with regard to how their airspace is used, particularly now that we have this concrete example," State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said.

A day after the European Union imposed a 19th round of sanctions on Damascus, Switzerland said it has blocked 100 million francs (almost $108 million, 83 million euros) in assets linked to the Syrian regime.

And the U.N. food agency said prices for basic provisions have nearly doubled in Syria since the conflict erupted, and that it has failed to deliver supplies to 100,000 people because of the spiraling fighting.

Syrian state news agency SANA, meanwhile, announced by-elections on December 1 to fill five seats in parliament, two of which became vacant when sitting MPs defected to the opposition.