A large explosion hit cars accompanying United Nations ceasefire monitors in the southern Syrian province of Deraa today, injuring eight Syrian guards, a pro-government news channel said.
Major General Robert Mood, the head of the UN monitoring team, was in the convoy but there were no reports of any of the observers being wounded.
Addounia television said the explosion damaged cars, including one belonging to Syrian state media. It quoted Gen Mood as saying at a press conference in Deraa that the explosion, which happened in front of the monitors, was one example of what is happening everywhere in Syria.
Gen Mood had visited the wounded in hospital and would draft a report, it said.
On April 21st, the UN Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution authorising the deployment of up to 300 unarmed military observers to Syria for three months to help bolster a ceasefire agreement that both sides are accused of ignoring.
Earlier, Syrian rebels killed at least seven militiamen loyal to Dr al-Assad in an attack on a bus carrying the fighters through a Damascus suburb, opposition activists said.
The attack with rocket-propelled grenades destroyed the vehicle on the edge of Irbin, 5km (3 miles) east of the capital's main Abbasid Square at around 9.30 am (0630 GMT), activists said.
"Troops sealed off the area then tanks began shelling. A five-storey building was badly hit but it was empty," activist Mohammad Saeed told Reuters, saying he was speaking by satellite phone from the suburb.
Irbin was among several northern and eastern Damascus suburbs that briefly fell under rebel control before the army seized them back at the end of January.Syria has barred most independent journalists from the country, making it is difficult to verify reports of attacks and casualties.
Elsewhere, it emerged that Syria is importing significant volumes of grain via Lebanon to work around western sanctions and secure vital supplies, European traders told Reuters.
The trade is not illegal because food imports are not included in sanctions imposed by the European Union, the United States and other Western countries on Dr al-Assad's government over his crackdown on a revolt.
But the measures have blocked access to trade finance for Syria in the same way as similar penalties imposed on Iran over its nuclear programme.Growing numbers of Syrians are struggling to obtain food, with prices of staples more than doubling after more than a year of conflict.
Some people in the capital Damascus, long spared the violence but now shaken by explosions overnight, say they are stocking up with at least a month's supplies.
"Syrian grain imports are being transacted in large volumes using offices in Lebanon to handle the paperwork and act as initial buyer," one trader said.
"The deal is then re-booked in Lebanon, and ships are then later diverted to Syrian ports."Some trade sources said hundreds of thousands of tonnes were involved, while deals in smaller volumes are also being booked via dealers based in Dubai.
"Food imports themselves are not stopped by the sanctions, but it is the impact of the banking sanctions which is disrupting imports," a second trader said.Syrian imports booked in the past two months include wheat for food as well as barley and corn for animal feed.
The Black Sea region, including Ukraine and Russia, has been the main grain source, dealers said.
Lebanon has close trade and business ties with neighbouring Syria but is politically divided between allies of Damascus and his opponents, who pushed Assad to end nearly three decades of Syrian military presence in Lebanon seven years ago.
Lebanese prime minister Najib Mikati, whose government includes ministers from Hizbullah and pro-Syrian Christian parties, says he is seeking to prevent Syria's crisis from spilling over into his country.
Mr Mikati and the central bank have pledged to fully implement international sanctions related to Syria, but his foreign minister last year rejected an Arab League decision to impose sanctions on Damascus, saying Lebanon would not implement them.
Some Lebanese trading firms seem ready to take the risk of being cut off from Western finance to do business with Syria, the second trader said.
"For the Lebanese, Syria is their traditional market," he added. "Major wheat supplies to Syria seem to be arriving under state-to-state deals."Ukraine said in March it would supply Syria with 300,000 tonnes of food wheat under the terms of an inter-government agreement.
About 9,000 people have been killed by Syrian forces, the UN says, and Damascus claims insurgents have killed 2,600 police and security force personnel. Fifty UN observers are now in Syria and, despite their presence, activists report that dozens of people are killed almost every day and there has been a recent spate of bombings targeting state security.
Reuters