Ongoing clashes end Syria's failed truce

Activists say at least 100 people died on Sunday amid clashes in Damascus suburbs, Aleppo, Idlib and other places.

After the failed Eid al-Adha holiday ceasefire, envoy Lakhdar Brahimi will return to the UN in November [AFP]

Syrian fighter jets have bombarded a rebel stronghold on the edge of the capital, on the final day of an attempted truce that has been shattered by air raids and fighting between the two sides, opposition activists say. They said jets on Monday targeted Harat al-Shwam, a residential neighbourhood east of Damascus which President Bashar al-Assad's forces had tried to storm, encountering stiff resistance. Activists also reported air raids in Damascus and other areas of the country on Sunday, undermining a UN-brokered truce that was supposed to last at least till the end of the Eid al-Adha holiday. Air raids, clashes and car bombings claimed at least 100 lives during the day, opposition sources said. The ceasefire was violated almost as soon as it was agreed, and both rebels and government troops have initiated firefights since the four-day holiday began at sunset on October 25. Syria has banned most international media from operating in the country, making it difficult for Al Jazeera to verify reports from activists and authorities. Aleppo fighting Explosions, mortar attacks and gunfire have been heard throughout Aleppo, the country's second-largest city, where neighbourhoods have been reduced to rubble as a result of the months-long struggle there. In the northwestern Idlib province, the attacks killed at least 16 people on Sunday, including seven children and five women, an activist group said. "The ceasefire is practically over. Damascus has been under brutal air raids since day one and hundreds of people have been arrested," Fawaz Tello, an opposition campaigner, told the Reuters news agency. Lakhdar Brahimi, the UN-Arab League envoy whose job it is to negotiate between the opposition and Assad, has not commented on the apparent failure of the ceasefire he announced. He is to go to the UN Security Council in November with new proposals to push for talks, diplomats said. He was in Russia for talks with Sergey Lavrov, foreign minister, on Monday and will head to China later this week to discuss the crisis. Rebels kidnap journalist Regime forces and rebels had agreed to a call by Brahimi to lay down their arms but reserved the right to respond to attacks. Fierce fighting erupted after a short lull, and each side accused each other of breaching the ceasefire. State news agency SANA said "armed terrorist groups" had attacked checkpoints and planted explosive devices in several cities. Rebels have also kidnapped a Lebanese journalist operating in the contested north of the country for making reports the fighters deemed unhelpful to their cause. In-depth coverage of escalating violence across Syria In a video released on Sunday, Fida Itani said he was in good health but being held under house arrest by the "Northern Storm Brigade". The rebel group's Facebook page said Itani's work was "not compatible with the revolution" and that he would be held for "a short time". The opposition claims at least 32,000 people have been killed since the uprising began in March last year. Hundreds of thousands of people have fled to neighbouring countries. As winter approaches, life will get worse for displaced families inside Syria and refugees filling up temporary camps in border areas in Jordan, Turkey and Lebanon. Valerie Amos, the UN's chief humanitarian relief officer, has said that up to three million Syrians have been affected by the crisis. In a statement released last week, she called on all parties to stop targeting civilians and said "ordinary women, men and children ... suffer from the indiscriminate use of explosive weapons like cluster munitions".