courtesy Creative Commons

The UN observers are in the country to uphold a peace agreement created by the UN that was supposed to begin April 12. Under the plan, a ceasefire was supposed to lead to talks between Bashar Assad and the opposition. Fighting, however, did not stop, reports The Daily Beast.

The ceasefire faced difficulties from the beginning. Assad’s regime continued attacks on opposition strongholds and the opposition continued to ambush government security forces. The military also refused to withdraw tanks and soldiers from the streets, a major provision of the treaty.

Maj. Gen. Robert Mood took charge of the team of 16 UN monitors. Mood told the Associated Press that the team would not be able to solve all the problems in Syria and asked for help from those loyal to Assad.

Homs has become the heart of the uprising and large parts of the city are in ruins. Since UN monitors arrived last week the level of violence has decreased, according to the AP. There have still been some outbreaks though.