Envoy Kofi Annan admits in an interview published by France’s Le Monde that efforts to resolve the escalating violence in Syria have failed so far as more than 60 people were killed in violence that also spilled over into Lebanon.

‘‘The evidence shows that we have not succeeded,’’ he told the French daily Le Monde.

Envoy Kofi Annan noted the importance of Russia, a Syrian ally that keeps blocking international action against Bashar al-Assad’s regime, but that Iran a longtime Syrian ally, too, “is a player, and should be part of the solution,” Annan said in the interview.

The Annan plan, which insists on a cessation of violence by all sides and took effect since mid-April, has been ignored on a daily basis as activists say more than 17,000 people have died since the uprising began in March last year.

Annan’s comments come amid  fears that the unrest in Syria will spill over into Lebanon.

On Saturday, shells fired from inside Syria killed  five people after rebels crossed the border to seek refuge, residents said. in the latest incident of violence spilling across the border, according to Reuters.

UN chief Ban Ki-moon called on Friday for scaling down an observer mission in Syria to refocus on political efforts to end the violence.

Meanwhile, activists in Syria on Saturday reported that Syrian forces bombarded towns in the northern province of Aleppo in violence on Saturday that killed at least 60 across the country, Al Jazeera reported quoting the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which relies on an activist network inside Syria, called the bombardment of a number of villages in Aleppo province ‘‘the most violent’’ since the Regime forces are attempting to regain control over the region.