Syria: UN approves first observers to monitor ceasefire

Russia and China both voted in favour of the resolution, the first that has been approved by the 15-nation council since the anti-government uprising in Syria began 13 months ago.

Moscow and Beijing twice vetoed council resolutions condemning Syrian president Bashar al-Assad’s assault on protesters opposed to his rule.

The resolution calls on both sides to immediately “cease all armed violence in all its forms”.

It also calls on the Syrian government to implement the six-point peace plan put forward by international envoy Kofi Annan, including the pullback of troops and heavy weaponry from cities and towns.

The resolution calls for the deployment of an advance team of up to 30 unarmed military observers to initiate contacts with both sides and begin to report on whether there has been “a full cessation of armed violence in all its forms by all parties”.

They will be on the ground within 48 hours.

The council said it intends to immediately establish a larger UN supervisory mission after consultations between secretary-general Ban Ki-moon and the Syrian government.

Deployment of a larger force will be “subject to a sustained cessation of armed violence in all its forms by all parties”.

Annan’s spokesman, Ahmad Fawzi, has said that Annan – who is an envoy on behalf of the UN and the Arab League – envisions a mission with about 250 observers.

In the debate on the resolution adopted today, Russia submitted a rival text to the US and western-backed draft, and raised questions on Friday evening about the final draft. But ambassador Vitaly Churkin said before yesterday’s vote that Moscow “was satisfied” and would vote “yes”.

The ceasefire, which formally took effect last Thursday, is at the centre of Annan’s peace plan, which is aimed at ending more than a year of bloodshed that has killed more than 9,000 people, according to the UN, and launching inclusive Syrian-led talks on the country’s political future.

On Friday, Annan called for speedy deployment of UN monitors, and his spokesman Fawzi said that an advance team of “around 10 or 12” observers, that could quickly be increased to 30, was “standing by to board planes and to get themselves on the ground as soon as possible” once the security council approved their deployment.

The resolution came as opposition activists said at least six people were killed in Syria yesterday.

Activists also reported the first shelling, in the city of Homs, by forces loyal to Assad, since the UN/Arab League-brokered ceasefire took effect.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said four people were killed during a funeral march in Aleppo, one by shelling in Homs and a sixth succumbed to wounds inflicted by torture in the central town of Rastan, straddling the Damascus to Aleppo road.

A video, shot in a part of what the cameraman says is the damaged Homs neighbourhood of al-Qarabis, showed two tanks rushing through the streets to the sound of heavy gunfire and explosions.

“Look with your own eyes. Look, world. Watch what they are doing,” the man making the video screams as a tank raises its gun.

The Syrian state news agency Sana said “armed terrorists” killed five people in ambushes around the country yesterday, and kidnapped a parliamentary candidate from the north.

An army colonel was also kidnapped in the central city of Hama.

“Colonel Mohammed Awad’s car was intercepted by a terrorist group and he was kidnapped at gunpoint,” Sana said.

The Syrian government has repeatedly denied access to journalists, making it impossible to verify the reports independently.

In a video reportedly filmed in the Hay al-Etha neighbourhood of Aleppo, the sound of gunfire and an explosion can be heard as men holding the Syrian revolutionary flag and children scatter from what appears to be a demonstration.

Sana said: “Armed terrorist groups spread in Hay al-Etha, opened fire randomly and attacked public and private property.”

In another video, dozens of people, some with medical masks wrapped around their faces, run amid the sound of gunshots and two men drag an injured man along the street.

“We are in a state of war,” the camera-bearer screams before running over to film a young man whose head is dripping with blood.

Sana said its own television building in the same neighbourhood was attacked by armed groups, but could not confirm casualties.

“Terrorist groups on Saturday opened fire randomly in al-Etha, attacked public and private properties and beleaguered the TV and radio headquarters in the city,” the agency said.

Hopes that the truce would put an end to the bullets that have frightened off peaceful protesters for months were quashed when forces loyal to Assad shot dead five protesters after Friday prayers, activists reported.

They said that security forces came out in strength in many cities to prevent protesters from mounting major rallies against Assad.

The UN estimates that government forces have killed more than 9,000 people since the uprising began. Authorities blame the violence on foreign-backed militants who, they say, have killed more than 2,500 soldiers and police officers.

International pressure has grown for Syria to fulfil all its commitments to peace envoy Annan by withdrawing troops and heavy weapons, permitting humanitarian and media access, releasing prisoners and discussing a political transition.