At Least 38 Dead as Syria Says Troop Withdrawal Began
إقرأ هذا الخبر بالعربية
At least 38 people, half of them civilians, were killed in violence across Syria on Thursday, monitors said, with fierce fighting between regime troops and insurgents in the rebel provinces of Idlib and Homs, as a spokesman for Kofi Annan said the U.N.-Arab League envoy expects both the Syrian government and the opposition to fully implement a ceasefire agreement by April 12.
The violence came despite the arrival in Damascus of a U.N. team dispatched by Annan to pave the way for a possible observer mission in Syria.
In central Homs province, army shelling of the town of Rastan killed four civilians, including two children, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
In Homs city itself, eight regime forces were killed and dozens wounded in fighting with rebel forces on the outskirts of the Deir Baalaba neighborhood, the Britain-based monitoring group said.
Four civilians were also killed in Homs city, including three stabbed by Shabiha pro-regime militia, the Observatory added.
Separately, regime troops backed by tanks stormed Douma, near Damascus, at dawn amid heavy gunfire and shelling.
Clashes between soldiers and rebel forces were reported in various parts of Douma, some 13 kilometers (seven miles) northeast of the capital, with a civilian killed by sniper fire, the Observatory said.
Plumes of smoke could be seen near the city's main mosque as troop reinforcements were sent in.
Two young men were killed in Kfar Sousa, a neighborhood of Damascus early on Thursday when security forces opened fire on their car.
In the embattled northwestern province of Idlib, meanwhile, at least eight civilians were killed, along with six regime forces, the Observatory said.
Clashes were also reported in several towns in nearby Aleppo province, including Andan and Hritan, where messages on loudspeakers urged regime troops to defect and join the opposition.
Five soldiers were killed in two separate attacks there and in southern Daraa, cradle of the revolt that broke out in March last year against President Bashar al-Assad's regime, the Observatory said.
Annan expects both the Syrian government and the opposition to fully implement a ceasefire agreement by April 12, his spokesman said on Thursday.
"What we expect on April 10 is that the Syrian government will have completed its withdrawal from populated centers ... and then we begin a 48-hour period during which there will be a complete cessation of all forms of violence by all parties," Ahmed Fawzi told reporters.
"So the clock starts ticking on the 10th on both sides to cease all forms of violence," he added.
The Syrian regime has told Annan that it has begun withdrawing troops from some parts of the country, said Fawzi, adding that "we are in the process of verification."
An advance team dispatched by Annan to pave the way for peacekeepers arrived in Damascus on Thursday.
They will "begin discussing with the Syrian authorities the modalities of the eventual deployment of this U.N. supervision and monitoring mission," said Fawzi.
The peacekeeping mission would therefore be "ready to move in as soon as we have a Security Council resolution," he added.
Meanwhile, Annan will also travel on April 11 to Tehran, where he is to seek support from the Syrian ally for his peace plan.
The unrest in Syria has left more than 9,000 people dead since mid-March last year, according to U.N. figures.
The revolt against the regime began as a popular uprising but has transformed into an insurgency that many fear will lead to a full-blown civil war.
05 April 2012, 13:39
23
is he for real: he says this when the syrian regime is attacking towns with airplanes??
05 April 2012, 14:37
00
The Syrian regime is not bound by a deadline to withdraw its troops from strife-torn areas, pro-government daily Al-Watan on Thursday quoted a government official as saying.
ah yes promises and commitments the Syrian way.
05 April 2012, 15:00
14
They say "beginning" of withdrawal... that's vague enough to mean nothing...
05 April 2012, 15:21
00
We have to give Ceasar what's to Ceasar, and we have to give Assad credit. He is manipulating Koffi Annan, the Arab league, and the UN for his own good and survival. The April 10th date is not more than what used to happen during the Lebanese war, you agree of a cessation of hostilities and you back-it up with a political document, while the real purpose is to re-group and reassess the situation on the ground to decide the next steps. Assad is using Annan and the UN as pawns for his strategy, and they're obliging. You have to give it to Assad and his surrounding. They are more versed in the art of war than the representatives at the UN. Things don't work like that. You don't go sit with Assad for a couple of hours and you ask him nicely to pull his troops and allow demonstrations and he does. This is all naive. If the west is really interested in stopping the bloodshed, they would commit peace keeping troops. If they arm the FSA, tomorrow we will be hearing about mass revenge.
05 April 2012, 16:41
02
UN is a shamble.
Assad is a Killer.
Syria will disintegrate eventually.. do u really think everything will go back to normal?... i doubt that.
long live lebanon
05 April 2012, 16:57
00
As i said before, although i dont like Assad, he is here to stay. He will not go and this is from the very beginning. The USA and Zionists love their syrian ally which guarantees stability on their borders and lebanon's borders with Israel. All this little mascarade was just to shake him and his convictions. The ultimate goal was to try to detach him from Iran his ally. They couldnt, So they are shaking him now and squeezing him in order to attack Iran maybe in the near future so that Syria would be busy with its problems and wont be able to transfer weapons to hezbollah to strike Israel in a full war. This is the only thing. if the USA or the world would have wanted him out, they would have transfered heavy weapons to the opposition and organise a no-fly zone like Libya. But they knew Syria is the core of extremism and already egypt is under the influence of brotherhood.
05 April 2012, 17:01
00
Whether we or i like it or not, although i dont like neither USA-ZIONISTS- IRAN-SYRIA, The USA plays with the world like it wants and when it wants. It created sunni extremism around Iran , supported its main oil suppliers, sent them weapons, are shaking Iran's main ally which is Syria. The ultimate goal of all that is strike Iran. Strategy my friends, and deceptions. We are always arguing but we are only cards in the hand of the world rulers. The problem is not that those fight and battles are for greater cause but only for dominion.
05 April 2012, 18:49
01
shame on those lebanese who still support the butcher of damascus! short memory they have or do they miss the privileges assad gave them when he was occupying their country?
05 April 2012, 19:00
00
Everyone knows Lavrov is infallible...right? Russian foreign policy has worked so well over the last decade (Russia becoming more and more irrelevant in east Europe and the middle east).
05 April 2012, 19:03
00
Totally agree with you min-canada. Either option will bring negative results on the Assad regime.
If they don't implement the withdrawal and ceasefire, the war will continue and arms will come in from abroad in larger amounts, if he does the protesters will return in the hundreds of thousands like they were before the army crackdown. There's no way out for Assad except leaving power (either slowly or speedily).
