in a new bid to broker a diplomatic solution to the conflict.

"I answer to no one except the Syrian people," Brahimi told reporters in Cairo, where he was meeting with Arab League officials and Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi. "Syrians aspire to peace, stability and to realizing their goals of freedom and political progress."

Brahimi replaced former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, who stepped down in August in frustration after his six-point peace plan that included a cease-fire collapsed.

Aleppo a main battleground

The fight for Aleppo, a city of three million that was once a bastion of support for Assad, has emerged as one of the main battlegrounds of the civil war. Its fall would give the opposition a major strategic victory with a stronghold in the north near the Turkish border.A rebel defeat, at the very least, would buy Assad more time.

Syria's state run news agency, SANA, said Monday the death toll from a car bomb in the city the night before had risen to 30 civilians — including women and children — with 64 people wounded.

Lakhdar Brahimi, the new UN-Arab League envoy for Syria, will travel to Syria this week to meet with regime officials. (Amr Abdallah Dalsh/Reuters)

The blast happened near two hospitals. According to Aleppo-based activist Mohammed al-Hassan, one of the hospitals, Al-Hayat, was turned into a site for the treatment of government troops shortly after the fighting in Aleppo began in July.

SANA also reported that the blast was caused by a small truck rigged with more than 1,000 kilograms of explosives, which left a crater