Report: Damascus Sees No Deadline to Withdraw Troops

The Syrian regime is not bound by a deadline to withdraw its troops from strife-torn areas, pro-government daily al-Watan on Thursday quoted a government official as saying.

"There is no set date or deadline," the unnamed official said.

"April 10 is the date set for the beginning, not the end, of the withdrawal of troops and it does not constitute a deadline."

The United Nations had announced earlier this week that Damascus agreed to complete the withdrawal of regime forces from populated centers by April 10, in accordance with a peace plan brokered by U.N.-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan.

But activists on the ground and monitors say the regime of President Bashar Assad was clearly not honoring the accord given the continued troop deployments and violence across the country.

The official quoted by al-Watan said the Syrian foreign ministry had linked the troop withdrawal to a commitment by rebels to also honor Annan's six-point peace plan, aimed at ending one year of violence that has left more than 9,000 people dead, according to the United Nations.