UN envoy urges Syria cease-fire for Muslim holiday

BEIRUT (AP) -- The U.N. peace envoy to Syria is calling on Iran to help achieve a cease-fire in Syria during the upcoming Muslim holiday, which starts next week.

Lakhdar Brahimi says the civil war in Syria is worsening. He is stressing the urgent need to stop the bloodshed.

Brahimi's remarks Monday came at the end of his visit to Iran where he met Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a major backer of Syria's Bashar Assad.

Brahimi is touring the region for talks on ways to resolve the Syrian crisis.

His appeal for a cease-fire for Eid al-Adha, or the Feast of Sacrifice, is unlikely to resonate in Syria where activists say more than 32,000 people have been killed in the past 19 months.

Previous calls for a cease-fire have largely been ignored.