Syria says it will stop fighting by deadline
April 12, 2012, Thursday
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SYRIA promised to stop fighting in time for today's deadline for a cease-fire brokered by special envoy Kofi Annan but reserved the right to respond to any aggression, a significant hedge against any end in the fighting that has convulsed the nation for more than a year.
The statement came yesterday as Annan was in Tehran to seek support for his faltering plan to stop the country's slide towards civil war. Iran is one of Syria's most powerful allies.
Many world leaders see Annan's plan - which called for Syria to pull its tanks back to barracks on Tuesday, followed by a full cease-fire by both sides by 6am today - as the best hope to calm a yearold conflict.
But the US and others also are skeptical President Bashar Assad's regime will fully comply after several previous failures. Syria disregarded the Tuesday deadline, and was still attacking its opponents yesterday.
In a statement carried on the state-run SANA news agency, a defense official said Syria's army successfully fought off "armed terrorist groups," the term Damascus uses to describe those behind the uprising. "A decision has been taken to stop these missions as of the morning of Thursday, April 12, 2012," the unnamed official said, adding: "Our armed forces are ready to repulse any aggression carried out by the armed terrorist groups against civilians or troops."
The Syrian uprising is among the most explosive of the Arab Spring. The UN estimates 9,000 people have been killed since last March.
The statement came yesterday as Annan was in Tehran to seek support for his faltering plan to stop the country's slide towards civil war. Iran is one of Syria's most powerful allies.
Many world leaders see Annan's plan - which called for Syria to pull its tanks back to barracks on Tuesday, followed by a full cease-fire by both sides by 6am today - as the best hope to calm a yearold conflict.
But the US and others also are skeptical President Bashar Assad's regime will fully comply after several previous failures. Syria disregarded the Tuesday deadline, and was still attacking its opponents yesterday.
In a statement carried on the state-run SANA news agency, a defense official said Syria's army successfully fought off "armed terrorist groups," the term Damascus uses to describe those behind the uprising. "A decision has been taken to stop these missions as of the morning of Thursday, April 12, 2012," the unnamed official said, adding: "Our armed forces are ready to repulse any aggression carried out by the armed terrorist groups against civilians or troops."
The Syrian uprising is among the most explosive of the Arab Spring. The UN estimates 9,000 people have been killed since last March.
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