Damascus: Old City blast kills 13 in Syria

An explosion rocked Damascus' Old City today, killing 13 people while Syrian President Bashar al-Assad met with international mediator Lakhdar Brahimi, reported Al Jazeera, citing Syrian state media. 

More from GlobalPost: Syria cease-fire: Envoy Lakhdar Brahimi pushes for end to violence

The bomb detonated outside a police station in the predominantly Christian Bab Touma neighborhood, said the Associated Press. 

Syrian state news SANA said Assad supported "any sincere effort to find a political solution to the crisis, based on respect for Syrian sovereignty and rejecting foreign intervention."

The president was quoted as saying a solution "must be centered around the principle of halting the terrorism and … commitment by the countries involved in supporting, arming and harboring the terrorists in Syria to stop these actions."

Brahimi arrived in Syria on Friday after visiting a number of Middle Eastern countries in a bid to unite international efforts behind a solution for the conflict in Syria, which is believed to have taken some 30,000 lives in over a year of violence. 

Former envoy Kofi Annan resigned in frustration after trying to push through a peace plan to implement a cease-fire between Assad and an armed insurrection against his rule. 

Brahimi has called on both sides to lay down arms in honor of the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha, or the Feast of Sacrifice, which began Friday. 

The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 140 people were killed in violence in Syria on Saturday, reported Reuters. 

After Brahimi met with Assad he repeated his call for a ceasefire.

"Everyone can start this (ceasefire) when they want, today or tomorrow for example, for the period of the Eid and beyond," Brahimi told reporters at a Damascus hotel.