UN mission is a failure as monitors leave Syria
Source: Agencies |
August 21, 2012, Tuesday
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UNITED Nations military observers left Damascus yesterday after a four-month mission in which they became helpless spectators of Syria's spiralling conflict, instead of monitoring a cease-fire between President Bashar Assad's forces and rebels.
Seven UN cars were seen leaving a Damascus hotel yesterday morning, carrying some of the last members of a mission which at its height deployed 300 observers across the country.
The unarmed monitors suspended operations in June after coming under fire and most have already left the country, leaving a small 'liaison office' in Damascus in case a chance for a political settlement to the bloodshed ever emerges.
"Our mission failed because the two sides did not abide by their commitments," one uniformed UN observer said at the Damascus hotel.
Battling a 17-month-old uprising against his family's 42-year rule, Assad has used jets and helicopter gunships to pound rebel strongholds. Insurgents have stepped up their attacks, hitting tanks, military convoys and security buildings.
The mandate of the monitoring mission, known as UNSMIS, expired on Sunday night after diplomats at the UN said conditions for continuing operations had not been met. The last monitors are expected to be out of the country by Friday.
After a brief lull, violence intensified during the monitors' presence in Syria and at least 9,000 people have been killed since they arrived to oversee a cease-fire declared on April 12 by former UN-Arab League mediator Kofi Annan.
The truce never took hold.
Seven UN cars were seen leaving a Damascus hotel yesterday morning, carrying some of the last members of a mission which at its height deployed 300 observers across the country.
The unarmed monitors suspended operations in June after coming under fire and most have already left the country, leaving a small 'liaison office' in Damascus in case a chance for a political settlement to the bloodshed ever emerges.
"Our mission failed because the two sides did not abide by their commitments," one uniformed UN observer said at the Damascus hotel.
Battling a 17-month-old uprising against his family's 42-year rule, Assad has used jets and helicopter gunships to pound rebel strongholds. Insurgents have stepped up their attacks, hitting tanks, military convoys and security buildings.
The mandate of the monitoring mission, known as UNSMIS, expired on Sunday night after diplomats at the UN said conditions for continuing operations had not been met. The last monitors are expected to be out of the country by Friday.
After a brief lull, violence intensified during the monitors' presence in Syria and at least 9,000 people have been killed since they arrived to oversee a cease-fire declared on April 12 by former UN-Arab League mediator Kofi Annan.
The truce never took hold.
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