UNITED NATIONS, April 7 -- UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Monday urged the warring parties in Syrians and their supporters to "do everything" to protect civilians in the Middle East country, where armed conflicts entered its fourth year in March.

"In the face of troubling new reports of atrocities in the brutal conflict driving Syria to its destruction, the secretary-general demands that warring parties and their supporters ensure that civilians are protected, regardless of their religion, community or ethnic affiliation," said a statement issued here Monday night by Ban's spokesman.

"Both the Syrian government and armed groups have the legal obligation and moral responsibility to do so," the statement said. "They must do everything to avoid and prevent violence against civilians, including indiscriminate shelling and air attacks on civilian areas."

Ban's statement was prompted by the killing of an elderly priest in Homs, a city in western Syria and located some 162 km north of the capital Damascus, and what the secretary-general called "the gruesome images" purporting executions in the Syrian town of Kassab.