Violence flares as Syria regime fails to pull out troops

THE Syrian government will not pull troops from cities and towns engulfed by the country's unrest before life returns to normal in these areas, a high-ranking official has said, as activists reported violent outbreaks that claimed the lives of at least two dozen people across the nation yesterday.

The statement by foreign ministry spokesman Jihad Makdessi was the first response to an appeal made by UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan to Syrian authorities that they stop military activities as "the stronger party" in a "gesture of good faith" to the lightly-armed opposition.

The reply suggests that any implementation of Mr Annan's plan to end the conflict -- which Syrian President Bashar Assad has accepted -- will be a long and complicated process.

Damascus appears to be playing for time by indicating broad agreement with the plan but then quibbling over or ignoring the details.

One of the centrepieces of the plan is the withdrawal of Syrian troops from cities, but Mr Makdessi told state TV late last Friday that the military is only in populated areas "in a state of self defence and protecting civilians".

"The Syrian army is not happy to be present in residential areas," Mr Makdessi said. "Once peace and security prevail in these areas, the army will not stay nor wait for Kofi Annan to leave. This is a Syrian matter."

Syria's uprising began a year ago with peaceful protests against Mr Assad's regime. In the face of a fierce crackdown, the uprising has become increasingly militarised and opposition groups now say their only hope is to drive out Mr Assad.

The UN estimates more than 9,000 people have been killed so far in the fighting.

International opponents of Mr Assad are struggling to pin down a strategy on Syria, as Mr Annan's peace plan is failing to get off the ground.

The six-point proposal to end the violence, accepted by Mr Assad, requires the government to immediately pull troops and heavy weapons out of cities and towns, and abide by a two-hour halt in fighting every day to allow humanitarian access and medical evacuations.

"The government must stop first and then discuss a cessation of hostilities with the other side," Mr Annan spokesman Ahmad Fawzi said last Friday. "We are appealing to the stronger party to make a gesture of good faith. The deadline is now."

Mr Assad promised last Thursday to "spare no effort" to make sure Mr Annan's plan succeeds. But he demanded that armed forces battling his regime commit to halting violence as well.

Many Syrians are frustrated at the lack of will for a foreign military intervention and are deeply sceptical President Assad will carry out Mr Annan's peace plan.

Syria's state-run news agency SANA said Syrian troops foiled an infiltration attempt by gunmen from Lebanon into a village near the western town of Talkalakh.

SANA said troops confiscated weapons and killed and wounded some of the men while others fled back into Lebanon.

In other violence, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said government troops killed at least 25 people yesterday, mostly in the southern province of Daraa, the northwestern province of Idlib and the central region of Homs.

The Local Co-ordination Committees, another activist group, said security forces killed 24 people yesterday -- nine of them in Idlib and eight in Homs.

For the international community, Syria is proving a murky conflict with no easy solutions. Mr Assad's regime is one of Washington's clearest foes, a government that has long been closely allied with Iran and anti-Israel groups Hamas and Hezbollah, which the US considers terrorist.

Saudi Arabia and other Sunni-led Gulf countries are eager to see Mr Assad fall in hopes of breaking Syria out of its alliance with their regional rival, Shiite-majority Iran.

US secretary of state Hillary Clinton was flying yesterday from Saudi Arabia, where she held talks with Saudi King Abdullah and others on ways to resolve the Syrian crisis and other regional strategies, to Turkey, ahead of today's 60-nation gathering of the 'Friends of the Syrian People' in Istanbul.

The US remains opposed to arming Syria's rebels, which some Gulf states have proposed, even as continued violence is stymying UN efforts to persuade Damascus to make good on a ceasefire plan it has accepted.

- Bassem Mroue in BEIRUT

Originally published in

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