BEIRUT - Anti-government activists reported fighting across Syria on Tuesday, the day that U.N. officials, world leaders and Syrian protesters had hoped Syrian forces would complete a pullback from urban areas. Meanwhile, in Russia, President Bashar al-Assad?s allies again seemed to change the conditions of a U.N.-backed peace plan.
At the end of a 10-day period during which Kofi Annan, the U.N.-Arab League envoy to Syria, said Syrian officials told him they would withdraw troops from urban areas, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem met with key allies in Moscow and made further demands.
Gunfire from Syria killed a TV cameraman in Lebanon on Monday. Also, Authorities from Turkey say Syrian troops fired into a refugee camp just across the Turkish border, injuring 5 people.(April 9)
A look at the Syrian uprising one year later. Thousands of Syrians have died and President Bashar al-Assad remains in power, despite numerous calls by the international community for him to step down.
Appearing after a meeting with his Russian counterpart, Moualem said his country had started a military pullback from unspecified areas, and once again demanded U.N. guarantees for an opposition ceasefire as a precondition to the rest of the six-point U.N.-backed plan.
?We would like Mr. Annan to deliver us these guarantees and to inform us of his contacts with the opposition,? Moualem told journalists in Moscow. He said that the Syrian government was prepared to enact a ceasefire to coincide with the arrival of an international group of monitors from countries of Syria?s choosing.
The Syrian government for a year has been battling an uprising, which has grown increasingly violent. International groups and Western leaders have condemned the brutality of the Syrian security forces and called for Assad to step down.
Russia, whose support for the U.N. deal is considered crucial, appeared to be backing away from some of its key requirements, with Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov saying that the start of a troop pullback on Tuesday, rather than its completion, would fulfill Syria?s obligations. That interpretation differs from the expectations of other governments.
Activists including the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights say that there have been some withdrawals of armored vehicles from urban areas in the last 10 days. But U.S. Ambassador to Syria Robert Ford issued a statement last week drawing attention to satellite images that showed movement of vehicles from one town to another, rather than away from urban areas.
Activists speaking via Skype from the central city of Hama, whose outskirts have seen heavy fighting and dozens of deaths in recent days, showed video footage that they said was of tanks in central Hama over the last week. Activists have also reported continuing operations by armed opponents of the government, and dozens of security forces have died in fighting in the last 10 days.
Lavrov said that the Syrian government needed to live up to its side of the deal ?more actively.? But he focused much of his criticism on Syria?s opposition, saying that they, too, needed to cease violence.
?The U.S. and other countries that have direct and sustained channels to contact Syrian opposition groups should make use of their levers and finally and honestly make all stop shooting at each other,? Lavrov said, according to Interfax.
Eleven civilians were slain on Tuesday morning alone, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, some in Homs city, and some north of Hama. Six soldiers were also killed in the eastern Hassaka region, in an attack on two checkpoints. It was not possible to corroborate those reports, as Syria restricts journalists? access.
The continuing violence, which spilled over into Lebanon and Turkey on Monday, has prompted an escalation of furious responses from leaders.
?The regime has used this deadline as a cover for intensified military efforts to crush Syria?s opposition,? British foreign secretary William Hague said Tuesday, adding that if Annan?s peace plan failed entirely, then Britain would be ready to go to the U.N. security council to seek a ?united international response to this clear threat to international peace and security.?
Such an effort could include seeking to refer Assad to the International Criminal Court.
However, the U.N.?s next steps are not clear. While some analysts, and leaders of countries including Saudi Arabia and Qatar, favor giving military support to the opposition, there is powerful reluctance in Western governments to further militarize the conflict.
Those seeking to resolve Syria?s problems have faced the same obstacles throughout the year-long uprising, said David Hartwell, a Middle East analyst with IHS Jane?s. ?The country?s geo-strategic position and the confluence of complicating factors ? a divided opposition, a strong central state, Western electoral cycles, fear of regional spill-over and what comes next ? all militate against a Libya-style intervention,? Hartwell said.
Staff writer Michael Birnbaum contributed to this report from Moscow.
Source: http://feeds.washingtonpost.com/click.phdo?i=1ea38de18a2992f01706be6455b8d8d6
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