THINGS are going from bad to worse in Syria—for both President Bashar Assad and for the battered but resilient opposition. A month after a UN mission arrived to oversee a plan by Kofi Annan, a former secretary-general, to end the bloody crisis, the violence is once again rising. Mr Assad, who reckons he has little to gain by honouring the ceasefire, let alone providing for a political transition, appears to have told his forces to stop shelling Syria's biggest cities for the time being, but to continue hitting restless smaller towns and to go on arresting pro-democracy campaigners.

Meanwhile, some of Mr Assad's opponents have been trying to assassinate senior members of the regime as well as shoot security men and pro-regime thugs. On May 22nd, 11 Lebanese Shia pilgrims returning from Iran were kidnapped in Syria's northern province, close to Aleppo, the country's second city.

It was always going to be hard for the UN to enforce a ceasefire on a country of 23m with just 300 people, of whom 270 have arrived. They have already been trying to cover wide stretches of Syria. But they may have to lessen their ambitions if security continues to deteriorate. Two UN convoys have already been targeted; nobody knows by whom. In any event, neither side is heeding the call for a national dialogue issued by General Robert Mood, the UN mission's Norwegian head.

Still, the monitors' presence, even if scattered, has let the protest movement regain some ground. Since the regime killed four university students in Aleppo on May 3rd, protests have gripped that city, which had been relatively quiet. The national death toll is now thought to exceed 12,000. And the unrest is creeping closer to Mr Assad's doorstep, as angry Syrians fleeing violence in their hometowns are starting to fill Damascus, the capital. There, discontent is rising and clashes with government forces are becoming more frequent.

The extent to which outsiders are becoming involved is unclear. Recent large-scale bombings in Damascus can be the work only of the regime (or a nefarious unit within it) or of jihadists who want to attack the “heretical” Alawite minority that dominates the regime and to which Mr Assad belongs. Jabhat an-Nusra (the Salvation Front), a jihadist group praised on al-Qaeda websites, has claimed responsibility for nine bombings.

The government has long blamed foreign terrorists for teaming up with the opposition. It fiercely denies any such charge. “We have been offered aid by Islamists, but we haven't taken it because we don't want to be framed as extremists,” says a young rebel. “But we need weapons.” Syria's Muslim Brotherhood, back on the ascent after years of lying dormant, says many within the country want to receive cash and arms. The rebels say the weapons pledged by Gulf governments have not yet arrived in large amounts.

Meanwhile the political opposition, especially abroad, is at odds with itself. Representatives of the “local co-ordination committees” within Syria have threatened to pull out of the Syrian National Council (SNC), the main opposition group, because many of them opposed the recent re-election of Burhan Ghalioun, its head, who says he will step down eventually.

The UN is in a bind. So far it seems willing to turn a blind eye to ceasefire violations, fearing that Syria will plunge into all-out civil war if the mission pulls out before its mandate ends on July 20th.