SBS WORLD NEWS
11 Apr 2012, 6:14 am -
Source: AAP
Syria said it was abiding by the deal, but UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan accused it of pulling troops from some areas and moving them elsewhere. (AAP)
The Syrian regime is continuing to shell rebel hubs on the day it is supposed to begin a ceasefire deal, with more than 50 reported dead.
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More than 50 people have died as Syrian forces pound protest hubs on the day it was to begin implementing a ceasefire deal, prompting a UN Security Council call on Damascus to meet the deadline.
Syria said it was abiding by the deal, but UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan accused it of pulling troops from some areas and moving them elsewhere.
At the same time, the rebel Free Syrian Army warned it would resume attacks if the government offensive does not stop.
Washington said it hoped the UN Security Council would consider action if Annan concludes that Damascus broke its commitment to pull troops and heavy weapons out of key cities on Tuesday.
In a first reaction, the council called on President Bashar al-Assad to keep a Thursday deadline for a complete ceasefire.
In a statement read by US Ambassador Susan Rice, it backed a demand by Annan for Damascus to make a "fundamental change of course" to end hostilities by 6:00 am Damascus time on Thursday.
Under the Annan deal, Syria is supposed to withdraw its forces from population centres on Tuesday ahead of a complete ceasefire by all parties on Thursday.
In Moscow, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem claimed Damascus had begun carrying out the deal by withdrawing some troops out of certain provinces.
But Annan, visiting Syrian refugees in Turkey, said that while the army had indicated it was pulling out of some areas he had received reports of troops moving into other parts of the country.
"I again appeal to the Syrian government and the Syrian parties to cease violence in accordance (with) the plan," he told reporters. "I believe there should be no preconditions for stopping violence."
Annan insisted the deal was not in tatters.
"The plan has not been implemented according to the schedule that we laid out... but it does not mean that it cannot be implemented."
In a letter to the Security Council, he said "the days before April 10 could have been an opportunity for the government of Syria to send a powerful political signal of peace. In the last five days it has become clear that such a signal has yet to be issued."
A "fundamental change of course" was needed by Assad to achieve a ceasefire in the next 48 hours.
Fifty-two people, including 28 civilians, were killed on Tuesday, monitors said.
Among them were 19 members of the regime's security forces and five rebels, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
That brings the toll since the weekend to at least 337 dead.
The United Nations says more than 9000 people have been killed since anti-regime protests broke out in March 2011. Monitors put the number at more than 10,000.
Free Syrian Army spokesman Colonel Kassem Saadeddine warned that rebel forces would resume attacking regular forces if they do not withdraw.
"If (the regime) does not stop shelling and not withdraw tanks, we will intensify our military operations and launch attacks," he told AFP.
But Muallem insisted Damascus had begun implementing the Annan plan.
"We have already withdrawn military units from different Syrian provinces," he told a Moscow news conference after talks with Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov.
Lavrov said Syria should be more decisive in fulfilling the Annan plan, which most notably calls on Syria to pull troops and weaponry out of cities hit by protests.
"We believe their actions could have been more active, more decisive when it comes to the implementation of the plan," he said.
Lavrov later spoke with Annan by phone, telling him to put more pressure on the rebels to cooperate with his initiative.
White House spokesman Jay Carney said Washington had so far only seen evidence of further "brutality and aggression" from Assad's forces.
"We would certainly hope the UN Security Council would evaluate the situation in Syria if in fact Mr Annan finds that the Assad regime has not abided by its own commitments to begin withdrawal by today," Carney said.
There was equally tough language from London and Paris.
"There is no evidence so far that the Assad regime has any intention of adhering to any agreement it makes," Britain's Foreign Secretary William Hague said.
"All those with influence over the Syrian leadership, including Russia, have a duty to back efforts to stop the violence and to isolate a regime which is as doomed as it is dangerous to the Syrian people," he added.
French foreign ministry spokesman Bernard Valero called Muallem's assertion that Syria pulled troops out of some areas "a new expression of a flagrant and unacceptable lie."
Annan arrived in Iran late on Tuesday night for talks centring on the Islamic republic's key regional ally, the official IRNA news agency reported.
Iran has repeated that it fully backs Assad's regime, and has lent it political and material support.
Meanwhile, Damascus was rebuked for violence that spilled over into its neighbours on Monday, killing a Lebanese TV cameraman inside Lebanon and wounding four people in a Turkish camp for Syrian refugees.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused Syria of a "clear violation" of common frontiers, while Lebanon demanded an investigation.
With tensions riding high, Muallem accused Turkey of undermining the Annan plan by helping the rebels.
"Turkey hosts Syrian armed groups, has built training camps for them, lets them illegally cross into Syria and smuggle arms (to Syria) across its territory," he said.
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