* After U.N. deadline, troops holding fire
* Annan says Syria must pull troops back
* Bomb kills soldier in Aleppo, risk of retaliation
* Opposition urges demonstrations, test on Friday
By Mariam Karouny and Dominic Evans
BEIRUT, April 12 (Reuters) – Syrian troops held their fire
on Thursday after a U.N.-backed ceasefire deadline passed,
giving respite to rebellious towns that have suffered heavy
bombardments, but international envoy Kofi Annan pressed
Damascus to pull its forces back entirely.
“Syria is apparently experiencing a rare moment of calm on
the ground,” Annan said in a statement as he briefed a United
Nations Security Council which has been divided along Cold War
lines by the 13-month crisis at the heart of the Middle East.
Western leaders, who share Syrian dissidents’ doubts about
President Bashar al-Assad’s willingness to end his family’s four
decades of absolute power, urged Russia and China, veto-wielding
bulwarks for Syria in the Security Council, to push for the
inter-Syrian negotiations envisaged by Annan’s peace plan.
“Assad will have to go and the Syrian people must be given
the chance to chart their own future,” U.S. Secretary of State
Hillary Clinton said. “Given the Assad regime’s record of broken
promises, we are proceeding, understandably, with caution.”
Echoing reports from weary opposition activists in some of
the most battered districts of Homs, Hama and Idlib, Annan said:
“The cessation of hostilities appears to be holding … This is
bringing much-needed relief and hope to the Syrian people who
have suffered so much for so long in this brutal conflict.”
But he urged the Security Council to demand a full military
withdrawal to bolster the extremely fragile truce, part of his
six-point plan which also calls for dialogue between the
government and opposition aimed at a “political transition”.
Syrian U.N. envoy Bashar Ja’afari said Damascus already had
complied with calls to withdraw troops from Syrian towns and
called on its opponents to cease fire, saying there had been
eight violations by armed groups on Thursday morning.
An activist called Musab from Hama city said troops were
still there. “They didn’t withdraw anything,” he said, referring
to Internet video footage purporting to show soldiers and
armoured vehicles at a Hama intersection on Thursday.
Diplomats at the United Nations in New York, who heard Annan
brief the 15-nation world policy body by videolink from Geneva,
told Reuters the Council could approve on Friday the despatch of
some 200 unarmed peace observers to Syria to monitor the truce.
But the observers will take some days to deploy, and rebel
calls for mass protests on Friday will test the truce.
A report on state media that a “terrorist” bomb blasted an
army bus and killed a senior officer in Aleppo after the truce
began raised a possibility troops will keep a pledge to hit
back. State media also reported a bomb wounding officers near
Idlib and a ruling party member shot dead in Deraa in the south.
DEMONSTRATIONS PLANNED
The exile opposition called the ceasefire “only partially
observed” due to the army’s failure to leave the streets and its
leader urged a renewal on Friday of peaceful protests, which
have been subdued of late by fear. But he warned those who might
take part that they could expect government forces to open fire.
The Interior Ministry urged rebels to surrender, promising
to free those who had not killed, and broadcast an appeal to the
thousands who fled battered cities like Homs and Hama to return
from the havens they found in Turkey, Lebanon and within Syria.
But streets in troubled towns remained nervously empty. An
exile opposition spokeswoman said three people had been killed
during the morning by security forces, and dozens more arrested.
The Syrian government bars access to most independent media,
making the reports impossible to verify.
Speaking after the 6 a.m. (0300 GMT) U.N. deadline passed,
Abu Rami, an activist in Homs said: “It was a bloody night.
There was heavy shelling on the city … But now it is calm, and
there is no shooting.” Assaults on restive neighbourhoods had
become more intense after Assad accepted Annan’s timetable.
Opposition stronghold districts of Homs were still but
deserted. “Snipers, tanks and soldiers are still there. They did
not go anywhere. People are wary and they believe that this
ceasefire is only temporary. Nobody is leaving their homes,”
said Yazan, an activist in Homs.
Videos shot covertly from shattered buildings or through the
holes punched in concrete walls by tank rounds caught Syrian
soldiers unawares, looking relaxed as if enjoying the truce.
Government spokesman Jihad Makdissi, speaking before the
report of the bombing of the army bus, said Damascus was “fully
committed” to Annan’s success and that there would be no breach
of the ceasefire by the government if the rebels did not attack.
The crisis has pushed pressure waves out along faultlines
that criss-cross the Middle East, pitting Sunni Arabs against
Shi’ite Iran, and alarming Turkey, whose prime minister on
Thursday cited his country’s right to call on its NATO allies to
defend a border where Syrian troops opened fire this week.
OBSERVER MISSION?
Asked about Turkey’s call for the military NATO alliance to
protect its borders, U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon rejected
any “militarisation or any military operation”, saying it would
only worsen the conflict.
Burhan Ghalioun, exile head of the opposition Syrian
National Council (SNC), told Reuters he expected demonstrations
on Friday after weekly prayers – a feature of the revolt that
had been subdued by violence in recent months. But he did not
trust the authorities who had their “hand on the trigger”.
“The Syrian people will go out tomorrow in the biggest
possible numbers so that the Syrian people can express their
will,” Ghalioun said. “While we call on the Syrian people to
protest strongly… we ask them to be cautious because the
regime will not respect the ceasefire and will shoot.”
The Interior Ministry later said – ominously – that only
pre-authorised demonstrations would be permitted by police.
Basma Kodmani, a spokeswoman for the SNC in Geneva, said
even without monitoring there was ample video and eyewitness
evidence showing troops were still out in force in town centres:
“The real test today for us is if people can go down and
demonstrate peacefully,” she said. “This is the reality check.”
In an indication of how the Western leaders who intervened
to help rebels topple Muammar Gaddafi in Libya last year are
reluctant to do likewise in Syria, British Prime Minister David
Cameron made clear the main Western effort would be to persuade
Moscow and Beijing to accept tighter diplomatic sanctions.
Both countries, alarmed by the way last year’s Security
Council resolution on Libya led to military intervention against
a sovereign state, have vetoed attempts to penalise Assad,
although the United States, European Union and Arab League have
imposed their own economic and political sanctions.
Assad’s forces have killed more than 9,000 people in the
past year, according to a U.N. estimate. Damascus says rebels
have killed more than 2,600 soldiers and security personnel.
But Western leaders, along with many Syrians, are wary of
Iraq-style blood-letting among Syria’s mix of religious and
ethnic communities without an orderly transition.
“Now is the time to say to the Russians and Chinese, look at
the man we are dealing with, look at the appalling way he is
behaving,” Cameron said. “We need to go back to the U.N. and
tighten the pressure, tighten the noose.”
