The UN chief monitor in Syria has called on warring parties to allow withdrawal of civilians namely women and elderly and children out of hot spots, as the violence pursued in various parts of the troubled nation.

Major General Robert Mood, the head of the U.N. observer mission in Syria, said in a statement, released here late on Sunday, that bids to pull out the civilians from the central city of Homs, last week, were in vain.

Homs and surrounding regions have been subjected to barrages of artillery and tank shells and salvos of missiles from government forces, battling irregular forces of the opposition, namely troops of the Syrian Opposition Army.

Parties of the conflict should reconsider their stance and allow the women, the old people and the wounded to be taken out of these regions without any conditions for sake of ensuring their safety, Maj. Gen. Mood said. These factions should show desire for sparing lives of Syrians and take immediate action to alleviate suffering of the Syrians, who have been stranded in the violence, the top monitor of the international organization said.
Maj. Gen. Mood expressed readiness to oversee an operation for the withdrawal of the civilians from the flashpoints, once the armed forces have taken a decision to facilitate such an operation.

The chief of the international team of monitors has recently declared indefinite suspension of his team mission due to escalation of hostilities by the foes. He affirmed that the hostilities -- often causing collateral damage -- have claimed scores of innocent lives and posed a threat to safety of the observers.

Meanwhile, Governor of the Syrian Central Bank Adib Mayyalla said in a statement that the authorities' decision to replace worn banknotes "had nothing to with inflation or high cost of living." Circulation of the new banknotes was aimed at replacing them with the old ones and was not related to the inflation or the high cost of living, he said, urging citizens to neglect buzzing rumors about status of the national economy.