UN ready to send peacekeepers to Syria

The United Nations is preparing various contingency plans to send peacekeepers to Syria as part of a ceasefire or political deal, but it is too early say how many would be needed, U.N. peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous said on Monday.

The U.N.-Arab League mediator in the Syria conflict, Lakhdar Brahimi, is attempting to persuade the Syrian government and rebels to accept a ceasefire during the three-day Islamic holiday of Eid al-Adha that starts on Friday, the Reuters reports.

If there were a more sustained ceasefire, the U.N. Department of Peacekeeping Operations has told Brahimi it could put together a force of up to 3,000 monitors to keep fighters separated and maintain the truce, diplomats said.