Syria: Observers still fail to enforce truce

UN CEASE-FIRE monitors toured a rebel-held town in central Syria yesterday with army defectors, even while government troops pounded a Damascus suburb with artillery and heavy machine guns,.

The shelling in Douma highlighted the need for more monitors a day after the Security Council voted to expand the number of UN observers from 30 to 300 in hope of salvaging an international truce plan marred by continued fighting between the military and rebels.

An eight-member team is on the ground in Syria, and since Thursday has visited flashpoints of the 13-month-long conflict. Fighting generally halts temporarily when the observers are present in an area, but there has been a steady stream of reports of violence from towns and regions where they have not yet gone.

“This UN observers thing is a big joke,” said Douma-based activist Mohammed Saeed. “Shelling stops and tanks are hidden when they visit somewhere, and when they leave, shelling resumes.”

His comments reflect a widespread lack of faith among many Syrians in international envoy Kofi Annan’s cease-fire plan for ending the violence and launching talks between president Bashar Assad and those trying to remove him. Syria’s opposition and its western supporters suspect Mr Assad is paying lip service to the truce since full compliance – including withdrawing troops and heavy weapons from populated areas and allowing peaceful demonstrations – could quickly sweep him from power.

A previous observer team, dispatched by the Arab League at the start of the year, withdrew after a month after failing to halt the fighting.

Syria’s state-run news agency Sana said UN monitors visited Hama yesterday where they met with the governor, while opposition activists said observers visited Rastan, a rebel-held town south of Hama. An amateur video posted online showed two white UN vehicles driving in Rastan accompanied by a pick-up truck with the words “Free Army” written on it.

Other videos showed two UN monitors wearing blue helmets and body armour touring Rastan along with officers from the rebel Free Syrian Army who point to damaged buildings and a large crowd of people shouting “Bye Bye Bashar!” and “The people want to topple the regime.”

Mr Saeed, the activist, said two people were killed yesterday by indiscriminate firing in Douma, which was the scene of intense clashes between rebels and security forces before the UN-brokered cease-fire went into effect more than a week ago.

It was not immediately clear what prompted the attack on Douma. Mr Saeed said loud explosions that shook the city early yesterday caused panic among residents, some of whom used mosque loudspeakers to urge people to take cover in basements and on lower floors.

The Security Council approved a resolution on Saturday expanding the observer mission from 30 to 300, initially for 90 days. The expanded force is meant to shore up the cease-fire that took effect ten days ago, but has failed to halt the violence the UN says has killed more than 9,000 people since March 2011.

Mr Annan yesterday called the vote a “pivotal moment” in the process of stabilising Syria. But he said: “The government must desist from the use of heavy weapons and withdraw such weapons and armed units from population centres.”

He added that the presence of observers would help create the conditions conducive to launching the political process