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UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says the only way to stop the violence is a political settlement.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has said that there is no prospect of an end to the 21-month conflict in Syria.

Ban told a year-end news conference on Wednesday that the only way to stop the violence was a political settlement, urging the deeply divided UN Security Council to unite and "give a very strong political direction" to the opposing sides.

"Syria began the year in conflict, and ends the year in war," Ban said. "Day by day, the death toll has climbed. Month by month, the regional spillover has grown."

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