Syria's state-run news agency says an "armed terrorist group" killed three people during an attack on a pro-government television station.
SANA said terrorists planted explosives during the attack early Wednesday at this TV station, but did not say how the employees died.
Syria often uses the term "armed terrorists" to label the rebels leading the revolt against Mr. Assad's nearly 12-year rule.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad addressed his new Cabinet on Tuesday, and expressed the need to focus the government on the fighting.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights told VOA the Syrian military fired artillery in several rebellious suburbs near central Damascus for the first time on Tuesday. killed at least 62 people, more than half of them civilians.
Diplomats at Tuesday's briefing quote Ladsous as saying the observer mission will remain suspended. The U.N. official also said the Syrian government refuses to allow the monitors to use satellite telephones, which he called "key tools" of the operation.