Syria conflict: No military solution, says Ban Ki-moon

The UN secretary general has said a military solution is not the answer to the Syrian conflict, though both government and rebels seem determined to defeat each other by force.

Ban Ki-moon said it was "troubling" that no end was in sight, and called for political dialogue.

He was speaking as heavy fighting continued in the capital Damascus and the northern city of Aleppo.

The Friends of Syria group is meeting on Thursday to discuss new sanctions.

Financial experts and diplomats are meet in the Hague to find ways to close loopholes and make existing sanctions more effective.

Speaking at a news conference to mark the new session of the UN General Assembly, Mr Ban said he was deeply affected by TV images of the conflict in Syria.

"Unfortunately both sides, government and opposition forces, seem to be determined to see the end by military means," he said.

"I think military means will not bring an answer. That should be resolved through political dialogue."

Meanwhile, Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi held talks with President Bashar al-Assad and other officials in Damascus.

Mr Salehi said a solution to the conflict, which the UN estimates has left at least 20,000 people dead, lay "only in Syria and within the Syrian family".

Mr Assad said that the "current battle targets resistance as a whole not only Syria", in an apparent reference to Iran and Lebanese Shia militant group Hezbollah.

The meeting came as the US Treasury Department said it had identified 117 Iranian aircraft that it said were carrying weapons to the Syrian government.

Planes operated by Iran Air, Mahan Air and Yas Air were making the deliveries under the cover of humanitarian shipments, a statement by the department said.

The airlines are already subject to sanctions, but correspondents say the US is listing the planes individually to put pressure on Iraq to stop them flying through its airspace.

On Wednesday, opposition activists said the military was attacking the south-western Damascus suburbs of Muadhamiya, Jadidat Artouz and Kanakir, Qudsaya to the north-west, and the southern districts of Qaddam, Assali, Yalda and Hajar al-Aswad.

They posted videos online which they said showed helicopter gunships firing rockets on the southern suburb of Hajar al-Aswad, as well as the bodies of some of the more than 20 people they said had been killed in the assault.

The army was destroying and setting houses on fire, they added.

State media said troops had moved into Hajar al-Aswad and clashed with an "armed terrorist group" near a cemetery, eliminating "a number of its members", and that others had been killed as streets were "cleansed".

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based activist group, later said rebel fighters had announced their withdrawal from Hajar al-Aswad, Qaddam and Assali after weeks of violent clashes.

Activists also reported that the bodies of at least 20 people executed by government forces had been found in the north-eastern district of Jobar.

In Aleppo, government forces had bombarded several central areas surrounding the Old City, including Bab al-Hadid and Bab al-Nasr, and also attacked the outlying districts of Hananu and al-Bab, they added.

The Local Co-ordination Committees, an activist network, said more than 62 people had so far been killed across the country on Wednesday, including 30 in Damascus. It put the death toll on Tuesday at 160.