BEIRUT – Syrian forces bombarded cities and towns in southern and northern Syria yesterday and stormed villages, forcing thousands to flee after president Bashar al-Assad accepted a peace plan calling for the army to withdraw to barracks.
Mr Assad’s ally Iran backed the peace plan, saying Syria’s crisis “should be dealt with patiently”, and Russia said it was now up to Syria’s opposition groups to also endorse the proposals, which do not require Mr Assad to give up power. But the United States, Germany and the Arab League called for action, not words. UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon said there was “no time to waste” in implementing a ceasefire.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported military action against towns and villages from the southern province of Deraa to the Hama region 320km to the north, including shelling in parts of Homs, where Mr Assad on Tuesday toured the devastated streets of a recaptured rebel bastion.
“Military forces accompanied by dozens of armoured vehicles stormed the town of Qalaat al-Madiq and nearby villages ,” the Observatory website reported. The town and its imposing 13th-century citadel had been under fire for 18 days, said one activist who gave his name as Abu Dhafer. “Thousands of people have fled and nearby villagers have gone to homes in safe areas. They are cramming people into their homes, a dozen to a room, men, women and children.”
Four rebels, four civilians and four soldiers were killed in the fighting and five civilians were killed in the shelling of the district of Khalidiya in Homs, activists said.
Western and Arab powers who have called on Mr Assad to step down were unimpressed by news on Tuesday that he had accepted the six-point peace plan of Kofi Annan, special envoy of the UN and the Arab League, calling for the withdrawal of troops and heavy weapons from cities ahead of peace talks.
“We will judge Assad’s sincerity and seriousness by what he does, not by what he says,” said US secretary of state Hillary Clinton, calling on him to pull the army back to base.
German foreign minister Guido Westerwelle said “it is actions that count, not words, and not just declarations of intent”.
Diplomats in New York said one of the ideas Mr Annan is pushing is a UN observer mission to monitor an eventual ceasefire. An international ceasefire-monitoring mechanism for Syria would probably need a UN Security Council mandate, they said.
One possibility is to temporarily boost an existing UN observer mission in the Middle East and enhance its mandate to include Syria, they said. One senior diplomat said an observer mission would probably include citizens of Arab and non-Arab countries, though it is unlikely the Arab League would be formally involved in the creation of a mandate because Syria would oppose that. Arab foreign ministers, meeting in Baghdad ahead of an Arab summit, called for the peace plan to be put into action. “We cannot be impartial on this matter of daily violence, killing and bloodletting,” Iraq’s foreign minister Hoshiyar Zebari said. – (Reuters)