After returning from his first diplomatic mission to Syria and reporting to the U.N. Security Council, envoy Lakhdar Brahimi confirmed that things are as bad as they seem, and he doesn’t currently see a way forward.

The BBC reports that Brahimi ultimately struck a more hopeful tone: “I think that we will find an opening in the not too distant future.”

Meanwhile, the U.N. estimates that 20,000 people, many of them civilians, have died so far in the conflict.

BBC: Mr Brahimi said he would return soon, but admitted he did not have a full plan on how to bring peace to Syria. The statement comes as violence continues across the country. Activists said the government was bombing parts of the second city, Aleppo. Speaking at UN headquarters in New York, Mr Brahimi said: “There is no disagreement anywhere that the situation in Syria is extremely bad and getting worse, that it is a threat to the region and a threat to peace and security in the world.” Read more

— Posted by Peter Z. Scheer. Follow him on Twitter: @peesch.