UN MONITORS were cheered by residents while visiting contested towns Douma and Harasta near Damascus.
Opposition sources also reported 20 shelling and shooting deaths during renewed army operations in the Arbaeen district of the central city of Hama.
Observers toured the resort town of Zabadani near Lebanon as well, while Homs, the most recent epicentre of the revolt, was said to have had a quiet day.
Fares Muhammad, an anti-regime activist based in Zabadani, cleared of rebels in February, said the UN team spent about half an hour in the town. They spoke to residents and saw damaged buildings, but did not search for tanks repositioned ahead of their arrival.
“Those tanks can be back in the city in two minutes,” he said.
Official Syrian news agency Sana said monitors met with residents of Waer, a northwestern Hama neighbourhood. It reported that armed elements had killed a doctor and two military officers in Deraa province in the south and two officers in the Hama region.
A private Lebanese vehicle loaded with weapons was said to have been seized by Syrian customs agents at the main crossing between Lebanon and Syria. One Syrian and two Lebanese were charged in a Beirut court with smuggling arms into Syria across Lebanon’s northern border.
Activists and rebel soldiers have reported the infiltration of Muslim radicals (jihadis) across the Iraqi, Jordanian and Lebanese borders.
The Jordanian authorities last week arrested militants trying to enter Syria to join the rebellion.
Following the announcement of the European Union’s 14th set of sanctions on Syria, EU foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton said the new round had been approved “because of deep concern about the situation and continuing violence in spite of the ceasefire”.
British foreign minister William Hague noted that the government is “not in full compliance” and called for further pressure on Damascus to halt its 13-month crackdown. Although experts have still to draw up a list, this round is to cover luxury goods and items which have civil and military uses, such as vehicles and fertilizers.
Syria is reportedly trying to sell gold reserves to Dubai traders to raise cash for imports and salaries of civil servants. It’s estimated that Syria’s foreign exchange reserves have shrunk from $17-18 billion to about $8 billion over the past year.
Earlier EU sanctions banned the trade in Syrian gold.
