Al Arabiya, 25 Dec 2012 – The United States warned late on Monday that the Syrian regime’s days are numbers following a massacre of hundreds of civilians in the bombing of a bakery earlier this week.

Washington condemned the “vicious” attack in which at least 200 people were reported to have been killed in a regime air strike on a bakery in the town of Halfaya, in the central province of Hama, Al Arabiya reported on Sunday.

“Brutal attacks such as these show that this regime has no future in Syria,” acting State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell said in a statement.

“Those that commit atrocities will be held accountable. The United States calls on all parties that continue to assist the regime in executing its war against the Syrian people to end their support,” he added.

The official SANA news agency blamed the bakery killings on an “armed terrorist group” — the regime term for rebels — saying “many women and children” had died.

The National Coalition, recognized by many countries and groupings as the legitimate representative of Syrians, blamed Assad’s regime for the “massacre” in Halfaya, saying it “targeted children, women and men who went out to get their scarce daily bread ration”.

The U.S. comments came as United Nations peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi held “constructive” talks in Syria with the embattled President Bashar al-Assad on Monday.

“I had the honor to meet the president and as usual we exchanged views on the many steps to be taken in the future,” Brahimi said, while labeling the crisis as “worrying” given the scale of the bloodshed.

More than 44,000 people are estimated to have been killed since the eruption in March 2011 of the uprising that morphed into an armed insurgency when the Assad regime unleashed a brutal crackdown on dissent.

On Monday alone, at least 119 people were killed nationwide, including 38 civilians, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Brahimi, who last visited Syria on October 19, expressed hope “all parties are in favor of a solution that draws Syrian people together”.

“Assad expressed his views on the situation and I told him about my meetings with leaders in the region and outside,” said the veteran Algerian diplomat who took over the position from former U.N. chief Kofi Annan.

Assad said his “government is committed to ensure the success of all efforts aimed at protecting the sovereignty and independence of the country,” state television reported.

As violence raged in flashpoints across Syria, some 1,000 people attended Christmas mass in Damascus, praying for peace to return nearly two years into an uprising that has killed tens of thousands.