DAMASCUS: Hopes of a truce in war-torn Syria during this week’s Muslim Eid al-Adha holiday remained slim on Tuesday as clashes showed no signs of easing and the death toll mounted.

“Neither the rebels nor the regime appear to want a ceasefire, and the daily death toll continues to exceed 100,” Syrian Observatory of Human Rights director Rami Abdel Rahman said.

The Observatory said warplanes raided a district of the northern city of Aleppo as fighting across the country kept up unabated, three days ahead of Eid, during which peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi has proposed a ceasefire.

In Syria’s second city Aleppo, a rebel was killed in fighting that was taking place in several districts, while planes bombed the Katergi quarter, the Observatory said.

In the Damascus provincial town of Harasta, at least three rebels were killed and a civilian died from sniper fire, the Britain-based group said.

In the capital, security forces carried out searches in the Zahira quarter, and one man was killed in a bomb attack on the southeastern outskirts.

The Observatory also reported fighting in the eastern province of Deir Ezzor and in Daraa, southern Syria.

And the strategic town of Maaret al-Numan came under aerial bombardment, as fierce clashes broke out in nearby Jisr al-Shughur and around the army base at Wadi Daif, which has been under siege by rebels for more than a week.

Maaret al-Numan has been the scene of intense fighting since it fell to rebels on October 9, severing a key army supply route.

Near Syria’s border with Iraq, bombing killed three civilians in the town of Albu Kamal, the Observatory said, giving an initial toll of at least 10 people killed nationwide on Tuesday.

The Arab League on Monday dampened hopes of a truce.

“Unfortunately, hope for implementing the truce during Eid al-Adha is slim so far,” Arab League Deputy Secretary General Ahmed Ben Helli said on the sidelines of the World Energy Forum in Dubai.

“The signs, both on the ground and by the government... do not point to the presence of any real will” to implement a truce,” he said.

In the face of the 19-month revolt against his regime, President Bashar al-Assad issued an amnesty on Tuesday for all crimes committed in Syria “up until today,” state television said, but with rebels excluded.

Despite the violence, the United Nations (UN) has held to the hope that the foes will observe a truce during the four-day Eid, saying it had plans to assemble a peacekeeping force if a ceasefire takes hold.

UN-Arab League peace envoy Brahimi has said he contacted political opposition leaders inside and outside Syria and armed groups in the country and “found them to be very favorable” to the idea of a truce.

Iran’s deputy foreign minister for Arab affairs, Hossein Amir Abdolla-hian, said Tehran could soon host a “national dialogue” in the region among all the parties to the conflict.

But armed opposition groups reject any Iranian involvement, reflecting the view the United States and some Western and Arab countries hold that Tehran is discredited by its unwavering support for Assad.