U.N. envoy says he'll 'spare no effort' to halt Syria bloodshed September 13, 2012 -- Updated 2218 GMT (0618 HKT) Lakhdar Brahimi makes his first visit to Damascus as U.N. envoy Brahimi replaced Kofi Annan in August Another 140 people were killed in Syria on Thursday, an opposition group says (CNN) -- The newly minted U.N.-Arab League envoy to Syria vowed during his first visit to Damascus on Thursday to "spare no effort" to bring that country's civil war to an end. Lakhdar Brahimi, who replaced Kofi Annan as the international community's point man for the conflict, had "candid and comprehensive" talks with Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem, according to a U.N. statement on the meeting. "Mr. Brahimi emphasized that, as he said before, he would spare no effort to help find a solution to the crisis," the statement read. His only masters in this endeavor were the Syrian people, whose welfare and security were his prime concern. Brahimi, a former Algerian foreign minister and U.N. envoy to Afghanistan, also will meet with opposition figures and other groups during his visit. Brahimi was named to his latest post after Annan resigned in August, blasting the Syrian government for refusing to implement a cease-fire he negotiated in April and complaining about the "escalating military campaign" of the opposition. The 18-month-old conflict claimed another 140 lives Thursday, opposition activists reported, with 100 of them in the suburbs of Damascus and in the commercial hub of Aleppo. Both cities have been the scene of intense fighting between government troops and rebel fighters in recent weeks. A total of 57 people had been killed around Damascus, while 43 deaths were reported in Aleppo, according to the Local Coordination Committees of Syria, a network of opposition activists.