President Bashar al-Assad's government backed away from a pledge to complete a troop withdrawal before Tuesday's deadline as the opposition claimed more than 1,000 people had been killed since a UN-backed ceasefire deal was struck.
Syrians chant slogans during a demonstation in North Syria Photo: AP
By Adrian Blomfield, Middle East Correspondent
6:57PM BST
08 Apr 2012
Syria’s foreign ministry defiantly claimed that a previous government commitment to halt the fighting by April 10th had been “misinterpreted” by Kofi Annan, the UN and Arab League special envoy who drafted the ceasefire plan.
Taking Mr Annan by surprise, officials in Damascus announced that a withdrawal of government troops and tanks from population centres would only take place if rebel forces guaranteed in writing that they would lay down their arms.
“To say that Syria will pull back its forces from towns on April 10 is inaccurate, Kofi Annan having not yet presented guarantees on the acceptance by armed groups to a halt of all violence,” the Syrian foreign ministry said in a statement.
Mr Annan accused Damascus of breaking its word to him.
“I am shocked by recent reports of a surge in violence and atrocities in several towns and villages in Syria, resulting in alarming levels of casualties, refugees and displaced persons, in violation of assurances given to me,” he said.
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Under the terms of the deal, which had not previously been challenged by the Assad regime, the rebels are meant to halt hostilities within 48 hours of the withdrawal by government forces. “As we get close to the Tuesday 10 April deadline, I remind the Syrian government of the need for full implementation of its commitments and stress that the present escalation of violence is unacceptable,” Mr Annan said.
Despite the escalation, senior rebel commanders said they would honour the deal if the government did, but have not done so in writing. “We are committed to the Annan plan,” Col Riad al-Asaad said. “We will present our guarantees and our commitments to the international community, but not to this regime.”
The apparent shift in policy from Damascus will heighten Western suspicions that Mr Assad never had any intention of abiding by the peace plan.
Peter Harling, an analyst at the International Crisis Group think tank, said the Assad regime could new obstacles to a truce because it has little to fear from the international community.
“Shelling whole neighborhoods, various forms of collective punishment, and a significant increase in forced displacements - nothing seems to have a price tag,” he said.
Such fears have only increased after a fresh government offensive launched at the beginning of the month reached a violent crescendo over the weekend.
Col Qassem Saad al-Deen, spokesman for the Free Syrian Army, said the 1,000 victims were predominantly civilian. Opposition human rights groups added that more than 160 people had been killed over the past 48 hours.
Fighters from the Free Syrian Army were surrounded in the village of al-Bashiriya, near the border with Turkey.
“The army is shelling al-Rouge with tanks, and helicopters are firing rockets at al-Bashiriya. Tens of people have fallen dead or injured but we cannot get to them because the bombardment is heavy,” said activist Mahmoud Ali.
A collapse of Mr Annan’s initiative will lead to renewed calls from Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey, Mr Assad’s principal regional adversaries, for a more robust response to resolve the crisis.
Turkey has hinted several times in recent days that continuing violence will force it to seek international backing for a cross-border military incursion to mount a buffer zone inside Syrian territory.
Instead of preparing for a withdrawal, regime troops stepped up shelling of residential areas in a frenzied rush to gain ground.
“Mortar rounds are falling like rain,” said Tarek Badrakhan, an activist in Homs, said as explosions were heard in the background. The regime is exploiting the peace plan “to kill and commit massacres,” he said.
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