Assad forces blast Syria rebels despite peace vow

 
Protesters: a rally against Syria's President Bashar Al-Assad in Kafranbel, near Idlib
Douglas Hamilton11 April 2012

Syria assured the United Nations today that it would respect a ceasefire due to take effect in less than 24 hours — as President Bashar al-Assad’s troops continued attacks on several cities.

UN peace envoy Kofi Annan said: “If everyone respects it, I think by six in the morning (0400 BST) on Thursday we shall see improved conditions on the ground.”

Mr Annan was in Tehran to attempt to persuade Iran, Syria’s staunchest ally, to support his efforts.

Speaking at a press conference with Iranian foreign minister Ali Akbar Salehi, he warned of “unimaginable consequences” if the violence worsened. “I have received [Syrian] government assurances they will respect the ceasefire. I believe Iran can be part of the solution.”

Mr Salehi said Syrians should be able to have free elections, but reiterated Iran’s opposition to any outside interference. He also made it clear that Iran would want Assad to stay in charge.

In a further attempt to gain western support from Syria’s allies, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said she would meet Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov today.

“We will have another go at trying to persuade the Russians that the situation is deteriorating and the likelihood of regional conflict and civil war is increasing,” she said.

Syrian troops were today reported to be pursuing assaults on several anti-Assad strongholds, rather than withdrawing troops, tanks and heavy weapons from towns and cities as required under Annan’s package.

There were reports of 26 deaths in Homs, while in southern Deraa, birthplace of the 13-month-old revolt, busloads of troops had flooded the city and were making house-to-house raids.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in