Syria Accepts Annan Peace Plan as Assad Tours Neighborhood in Homs

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  • W460
  • W460
  • W460

Syria has accepted a proposal crafted by Kofi Annan that aims to end the bloodshed roiling the country, the envoy's spokesman said Tuesday, in a move cautiously welcomed by Western states.

As monitors reported almost 10,000 dead in the year-long uprising, and with at least another 17 people killed on Tuesday, U.N.-Arab League envoy Annan in Beijing cautioned that implementing his six-point plan is the key to peace.

Annan's plan includes calls for a daily two-hour humanitarian ceasefire and access to all areas affected by the fighting in Syria.

"The Syrian government has written to the Joint Special Envoy Kofi Annan accepting his six-point plan, endorsed by the United Nations Security Council," Annan's spokesman Ahmad Fawzi said in a statement issued in Geneva.

"Mr. Annan views this as an important initial step that could bring an end to the violence and the bloodshed, provide aid to the suffering, and create an environment conducive to a political dialogue that would fulfill the legitimate aspirations of the Syrian people," he said.

The former U.N. secretary general held talks in Beijing with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, who pledged his support for his mediation efforts -- as did Russian President Dmitry Medvedev when Annan visited Moscow over the weekend.

China and Russia -- both allies of Syria -- have provoked Western fury by twice blocking U.N. Security Council resolutions that condemned President Bashar al-Assad's regime.

According to Fawzi, Annan has written to President Bashar al-Assad asking Damascus to "put its (plan's) commitments into immediate effect."

He has also urged the release of people detained over the past year of the Syrian uprising.

"Mr. Annan has stressed that implementation will be key, not only for the Syrian people, who are caught in the middle of this tragedy, but also for the region and the international community as a whole," Fawzi said.

Western nations gave a cautious welcome to the news, with most envoys saying Syria's actions now will be a test of its attitude to international calls to halt the killings.

The United States called Syria's reported acceptance of the Annan peace plan an "important step," but said the proof will be the actions of Assad's regime.

"We certainly view the fact that Kofi Annan reports that he's had a positive response as an important step," State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told reporters.

"But as with all things with the Assad regime, the proof will be in the actual action that he takes.

"We will be looking for him to take immediate action to begin implementing Annan's proposals, starting with silencing his guns and allowing humanitarian aid to go in," Nuland said.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, meanwhile, gave a new toll of almost 10,000 people killed in violence linked to the crackdown on dissent by the regime since March last year.

A total of 9,734 people have died, including 7,056 civilians, the Britain-based monitoring group said.

The United Nations on Tuesday gave an updated toll of "more than 9,000 people" killed, but did not specify if the deaths included soldiers and rebel troops.

"Violence on the ground has continued unabated," Robert Serry, a U.N. Middle East peace envoy, told a Security Council meeting in New York.

"Credible estimates put the probable death toll since the beginning of the uprising one year ago to more than 9,000. It is urgent to stop the fighting and prevent a further violent escalation of the conflict."

Even as Serry was speaking, Syrian forces were pressing their assault across the country with at least 17 people, including three women, killed on Tuesday, the Observatory said.

The monitoring group said 11 of the dead were civilians, among them one man killed in intense clashes near the central town of Qusayr, close to the border with Lebanon.

Officials said the clashes also spilled over into Lebanon as Syrian troops chasing rebels made a brief incursion into a sparsely populated area of Lebanon's eastern Bekaa region.

State television reported Assad had inspected troops in the flashpoint Baba Amr neighborhood of Homs city, site of a fierce battle between regime forces and rebel troops that killed hundreds.

Washington's ambassador to Syria, Robert Ford, told a U.S. congressional hearing Assad's regime is committing human rights atrocities, including torture, that could amount to "crimes against humanity."

But the envoy, recalled for security reasons, argued against further militarization of the conflict, saying diplomatic pressure should prevail on Assad to give up power.

With diplomatic efforts to halt the bloodletting intensifying, Syria's opposition factions met for a second day in Istanbul to agree on common objectives for the future ahead of a weekend international conference.

The Syrian National Council (SNC) main opposition group unveiled a proposal to lay the foundations of a new Syria to some 400 opponents of Assad's regime, at a closed door meeting at a hotel outside Istanbul.

But unity proved elusive.

The National Coordination Committee for Democratic Change, which groups Arab nationalist parties, Kurds and socialists, shunned the gathering.

Comments 22
Thumb Chupachups 27 March 2012, 13:57

looooooool.. should i keep laughing?

Default-user-icon Kap.Kal (Guest) 27 March 2012, 14:15

why man ?
I am trying to get the most unbiased news possible...

Default-user-icon Bandelio Difasco (Guest) 27 March 2012, 14:08

It does look like Dr. Tarshe2 3alfadeh's predictions that the Assad regime... has fallen 6813 times since 2005? days are numbered in 2011? MIGHT fall in 2012? are becoming... a joke? more pathetic like everything else about the doc? dumber and more stupid? laughable? min addak ya 7ak...awati?

Default-user-icon Edy (Guest) 27 March 2012, 15:13

Realy?!!!. Are we supposed to believe in Baath criminal Ethics and Hypocrisy? Kudos for the Assad regime for being such a great politician. Although I despise such a regime, I must admit, Assad is a great political survivalist. Well why not; he has inherited 40 years of successful experience in the art of torture, deception and propaganda. The lack of cohesive opposition has helped the Baathist thugs in selling the fear of Islamist / Salafist revival in Syria. I agree with Assad. The opposition does not know the meaning of Democracy and Freedom. I bet that the minute they take power, they will try to hold on to it for ever under Primitive Sharia Law.
I will not care, nor have any pity on the Syrians as long as they do not recognize Lebanon as a separate and Independent country in their History books.

Default-user-icon MUSTAPHA O. GHALAYINI (Guest) 27 March 2012, 15:23

plse naharnet search for the complete news,the tour in bab amro was interrupted by intense firing on the bashar's motorcade. already most international news have this info.

Thumb bigsami 27 March 2012, 16:14

Is this a joke? The only reason Assad agreed is because Russia/China warned him that they can no longer protect his regime. But we all know he will be back to his old tricks and schemes. Syria will never be truly free as long as his regime and gang is in the country....thus Lebanon will continue to be held hostage through Assad's proxy HA. :-(

Thumb jcamerican 27 March 2012, 16:26

Lebanon used to be the battleground, where west and east clashes. Now it had been moved to Syria. It is going to be a long time, before we see the end results.

Default-user-icon ex-battlefield LB (Guest) 27 March 2012, 17:47

But don't forget that on that battlefield the Syrian regime was the General for both the west and east.

Actually what's going on in Syria is at last the chickens coming home to roost.

Default-user-icon The collector (Guest) 27 March 2012, 16:14

Can anyone objectively deny that promises are the currency the filthy barbarous Syrian regime uses to buy time, Lakhdar Brahimi had a bag full of them, all of them broken. Now Annan is starting his own collection.

Default-user-icon Gabby (Guest) 27 March 2012, 17:07

Just like an arsonist who goes to see the building he burned.

Thumb bigsami 27 March 2012, 17:59

Picture above reflects Bashar in combatant/military attire....the only fight this clown has ever been part of was a pajama pillow-fight party....and he got his A** kicked! LOL!

Thumb bigsami 27 March 2012, 21:58

Ohhh...I see they removed that Fidel Castro militant-look of Bashar...LOL

Thumb beiruti 27 March 2012, 18:41

Only because yesterday the Russians said that the Annan plan is the last chance for Assad to hold on. So to placate the Russians, Assad agreed. But what good is Assad's word? It is worth Zero. He is helping Russia save face so that Russia will maintain its Veto policy in the UNSC and save Assad from a NATO military campaign.
But you watch, the killing will go on. This will stop nothing.

Thumb bigsami 27 March 2012, 22:03

Absolutely correct! It's a brief breather for the regime to lock & reload...and this time around...to annihilate the poorly equipped resistance (like what his father did years ago).

Missing realist 27 March 2012, 20:51

This is pretty much like when QADAFE used to tour tripoli with his hands in the air, typical dictator tactic, only bashar looks like a duck (QADAFE was charismatic), bashar looks obviously nervous with lack of sleep and cant wait to go back to his ipad, if he was trying to project any confidence he failed miserably. The only broken record he keeps saying is "jadawal" and "lajne" and you can tell he is an abandoned no man's land area lol.

Default-user-icon Neal (Guest) 27 March 2012, 21:09

buying time that's all and he knows it .

Missing peace 27 March 2012, 21:37

it s only the third time he accepts a peace plan! we know what he did with the two previous ones!

Default-user-icon pedro (Guest) 27 March 2012, 21:59

By the end of 2012, Bashar will still be in power. Mark my words dreamers.

Thumb falanges 28 March 2012, 10:12

is he really in "power" now? little pedro

Default-user-icon klaous (Guest) 27 March 2012, 22:56

The result of the world inaction to the criminality of the Assad crime family, their Lebanese/Iraqi stooges (and their Iranian/Russian masters) is the creation of a huge population base for Al-Qaida in the Sunni population of Syria. the USA and Western Europe, driven by Israel, make the same mistakes since the 1950's with the same results without ever learning.

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