Syria's President Bashar al-Assad with Russia's foreign minister Sergei Lavrov.
Πηγή: The Telegraph
April 17 2012
Russia has said the ceasefire in Syria is "fragile", as Sergei Lavrov, the foreign minister, urged countries to put more pressure on the armed opposition to co-operated with Kofi Annan's peace plan.
The claims came as activists said the Assad regime widened shelling attacks on opposition strongholds, in a fresh sign that the ceasefire is quickly unravelling.
"There really are those who are interested in the failure of Kofi Annan's plan and they actually mentioned that (opinion) even before this plan was made public," Mr Lavrov said without naming specific countries.
Russia has previously condemned some Arab states for agreeing to provide funding to the opposition Free Syrian Army.
"There are countries – there are outside forces – that are not interested in the success of current UN Security Council efforts," Mr Lavrov said.
Russia and China jointly blocked two UN Security Council resolutions on the 13-month crisis before backing on Saturday a decision to send observers to monitor the two sides' co-operation with Annan's six-point initiative.
Moscow backed the resolution after successfully insisting on including one Russian officer in the observers group.
Sergei Ryabkov, deputy foreign minister, said Russia would be "substantially" represented in the mission.
"The specifics of our participation in the observers mission are being worked on right now," Interfax quoted Mr Ryabkov as saying.
"Without a well-functioning observers mission working in the field, it is impossible to obtain a reliable and objective picture of what is happening."
Russia has been the focus of some Syrian protesters' outrage for previously refusing to condemn President Bashar al-Assad's forces for violence that the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Monday had killed 11,117 people.
Moscow has in recent weeks been more critical of Assad in public and condemned him for failing to pursue some of Russia's recommendations for ending the violence.
Russia on Monday also hosted members of the National Coordinating Committee for Democratic Change – a splinter opposition group that was not invited to the latest Friends of Syria meeting in Istanbul.
Its Chairman Hassan Abdel Azim said on Tuesday that Assad had lost his authority and that talks with his regime were possible only under strict observance from foreign groups such as the Arab League and the European Union.
"The Syrian dialogue needs powerful and influential sponsors," Mr Azim said.
He called Annan's peace plan Syria's "last chance to put out the flames of fratricidal carnage."
Mr Azim's group is a Syrian-based alliance comprised of socialists as well as Arab nationalist parties and Kurds.
While the overall level of violence is down since the ceasefire formally took effect Thursday, the regime has stepped up attacks. The number of people killed every day has also risen steadily since a brief lull that coincided with the start of the truce. At least 26 people were reported killed on Monday.
In violence on Tuesday, army tanks shelled the southern town of Busra al-Harir, killing at least two people, said the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an activist group. The town, about 45 miles south of the capital of Damascus, is a stronghold of the rebel Free Syrian Army.
Regime forces also shelled the Khaldiyeh neighbourhood in the central city of Homs, a centre of the rebellion against Assad, according to the Observatory. Homs has been under continuous regime attack, with only a short break on the first day of the ceasefire, activists said.
The regime appeared to be pushing to take control of the last rebel-held districts in Homs, said activists in the city. Khaldiyeh was shelled from three sides on Monday, and half of the nearby district of Bayada fell under the army's control over the weekend. Activists said Monday that the Free Syrian Army was holding its ground in the Qarabees and Jouret al-Shayah neighbourhoods.
On Monday, at least five people were killed in Homs shelling, the Observatory said. Across Syria, at least 26 people were killed Monday, including 10 in a daylong gun battle between rebel fighters and the Syrian army in the northwestern town of Idlib, the group said.
Another activist group, the Local Coordination Committees, said at least 55 people were killed Monday, including 26 in Idlib.
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