UN. Peace envoy meet with Syrian president

U.N. peace envoy meets with Syrian president With the carnage in Syria showing no sign of abating, U.N. peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi met Monday with Syria'spresident in hopes of making headway in ending the country's civil war. "We have exchanged opinions about the possible steps that can be taken in the future,"Brahimi told reporters after meeting with President Bashar al-Assad. Read more: Syria firing more Scud missiles, NATO says "The president spoke about his view regarding this situation.I also talked about the meetings I had abroad in several cities with various officials in the region and outside of the region. I also talkedabout what steps which I see appropriate to be taken to help the Syrianpeople to get out of thiscrisis," he said. "The situation in Syria remains worrying. We hope that all parties embrace the solution which the Syrian peoplewant and aspire to have." Monday's was the latestin several visits Brahimi has made to Damascus since August,when he was appointed joint U.N.-Arab League special envoy to Syria. Read more: Russia: Syria consolidates its chemical weapons In October, he brokereda cease-fire between the government and rebels, but it disintegrated within hours when heavy fighting erupted once again. Meanwhile, the Russian Defense Ministry on Monday denied media rumors that Moscow was sending commando units, air defense systems operators and military equipment to Syria, its longtime ally. "No decisions to send commandos on board Russian warships (to Syria) have been made," Deputy Defense Minister Anatoly Antonov told reporters in Moscow, according tothe state-run RIA Novosti news agency. He said Russia had not sent air defense systems operators to Syria either. "It's all nonsense ... and media speculation," Antonov said. Two landing ships that form part of Russia's Black Sea Fleet -- the Azov and the Nikolai Filchenkov -- were en route from Novorossiysk to the Syrian port of Tartus, where the Russian Navy has a maintenance base, RIA Novosti reported. The ships were carrying naval infantry units for protection during the voyage, it said. Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said Monday that Russia hasa plan to evacuate Russian citizens from Syria, if necessary, thenews agency reported. Opposition activists saymore than 4,000 civilians have been killed in the past two months. The bloodshed continued on Monday with at least 156 people, including 21 children, killed across the country, the opposition Local Coordination Committeesof Syria said. Read more: Opposition: More than 100 Syrians killed in bakery attack The dead include 15 killed in Talbiseh, a cityin Homs province, by airstrikes on a field hospital and bakery, according to the opposition group. Read more: Syrian rebels gaining ground in Aleppo, opposition says A day earlier, scores ofpeople were killed whenwarplanes bombed a bakery in the western village of Halfaya, opposition activists said Sunday. An activist who oversaw many of the burials said at least 109 people died. The hospitals could not handle all the wounded,Hassan Al-Rajb said. Read more: Patriot missiles a warning to Syria's al-Assad "There were dozens of dead thrown in the street," opposition activist Mahmoud Alawy said. "The residents were shocked and in a state of fear. It was chaotic." Videos posted on socialmedia showed the purported aftermath of the attack. Many bodieshad limbs apparently blown off, and others lay bloody in the streets and in rubble strewn over a sidewalk.Uniformed rebels from the Free Syrian Army and civilians scrambled to pull survivors from the wreckage. The state-run Syrian Arab News Agency blamed "armed terroristgroups" for the attack on Halfaya and accusedthem of having shot footage of the incident and blamed the government for the attack. Read more: Syrian regime approaching collapse, NATO chief says Halfaya had lacked the ingredients for bread for about a week until Saturday, when an aid group delivered provisions, Alawy said. Hundreds of people lined up at the bakery Sunday. Alawy said the government has been shelling gatherings of people in recent days, since the Free Syrian Army liberated the townfrom Syrian governmentforces. British diplomat Alistair Burt said Monday he was "appalled" by what,if verified, "would be the most recent in a long line of human rights violations and abuses committed by the Syrian regime." Italy's foreign ministry issued its own statement saying"these horrific images offend human sensibilities and our concept of civilization." Many Syrians face shortages of food and other necessities as winter sets in. The United Nations estimates that more than 2.5 million people need humanitarian assistance. To address this crisis, Turkish Deputy Prime Minister and government spokesmanBulent Arinc said the Turkish Council of Ministers would donate 37,000 tons of flour to Syria, effective immediately, the semi-official Turkish news agency Anadolu Agency reported.