Syrian regime carries out shelling attacks on opposition strongholds
Tuesday, April 17th, 2012 7:37:39 by Hamza Jahangir
The Syrian regime widened shelling attacks on opposition strongholds Tuesday, activists said, targeting a second town in a new sign that a UN-brokered cease-fire is quickly unravelling despite the presence of foreign observers.
The truce is part of an international plan to launch talks between President Bashar Assad’s regime and those trying to topple him. An uprising against Assad erupted 13 months ago, but became increasingly violent in response to
a regime crackdown.
Regime compliance with the cease-fire has been partial, and the latest escalation further lowered expectations that the key element of special envoy Kofi Annan’s plan can stick. Annan, joint emissary for the UN and the Arab League,
was to travel to Doha, Qatar, on Tuesday to brief the Arab League on the situation in Syria.
Diplomats and finance ministry officials from the Arab world, the West and elsewhere also were meeting Tuesday in Paris to coordinate sanctions against the Assad regime. Diplomats say a string of EU, US and other sanctions are
affecting Assad by curbing Syria’s ability to export oil and the ability of his cronies to do business abroad.
A six-member advance team of UN observers arrived in Damascus over the weekend, but hasn’t travelled to hotspots yet. U.N. officials said the team is still devising a plan on where to go and whom to meet. A previous Arab League
observer mission was hampered by regime restrictions on movement, and U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon has demanded his monitors be given free access.
In Damascus, the head of the observer team, Col. Ahmed Himmiche, suggested Tuesday it would take time to get to the hardest hit areas. “There should be coordination and planning and we should move … step by step,” he said. ”It’s
not an easy process.”
Short URL: https://www.newspakistan.pk/?p=19277
Posted by Hamza Jahangir
on Apr 17 2012. Filed under World.
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