Ban said in a statement on Monday that Ramadan is among four months during which fighting is supposed to stop. The holy month will start in Syria on Wednesday.

"For the sake of the Syrian people, therefore, I would like to call on all parties in Syria to respect this religious obligation for at least, at a minimum, one month," Ban said.

"I am calling for every military unit of the regular army and the Free Syrian Army, for every person holding a gun, to stop fighting and offer this month of peace as a collective present to their people - and to do so across Syria," he also said.

This came as the foreign-backed Syria opposition, the so-called Syrian National Coalition (SNC), said on Sunday that it was going to receive advanced weapons from the Saudi Arabia.

Syria crisis started in March 2011, when pro-reform protests turned into a massive insurgency following the intervention of Western and regional states.

The unrest, which took in terrorist groups from across Europe, the Middle East and North Africa, has transpired as one of the bloodiest conflicts in recent history.

As the foreign-backed insurgency in Syria continues without an end in sight, the US government boosts its political and military support to Takfiri extremists.

Washington has remained indifferent about warnings by Russia and other world powers about the consequences of arming militant groups.