Some of the last UN military observers in Syria left Damascus on Tuesday. All 300 UN observers in Syria, sent to monitor a ceasefire between the Syrian army and opposition forces, abandoned their hopeless mission last Saturday. The last monitors will leave by Friday. Syria’s Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs Qadri Jamil says the government is ready to discuss the resignation of President Bashar al-Assad to end 17 months of bloodshed that has killed more than 23 thousand people. But Jamil rejected the idea of making Assad’s resignation a pre-condition for any future negotiations, a demand made by the opposition and the West. Syrian opposition sources claim the opposition has gained control of 2/3 of Aleppo, but there has been no official confirmation.