Annan Asks Syria to Stop Using Heavy Weapons
إقرأ هذا الخبر بالعربية
U.N. envoy Kofi Annan on Sunday asked the Damascus regime and the opposition to immediately halt violence and the use of heavy weapons.
"I urge all forces whether governmental, opposition or others to put down their weapons and work with the United Nations monitors to consolidate the fragile cessation of violence in all its forms," Annan said in a statement.
"The government in particular must desist from the use of heavy weapons and, as it has committed, withdraw such weapons and armed units from population centers and implement fully its commitments under the six-point plan."
Annan welcomed a U.N. plan to send 300 unarmed ceasefire observers to Syria, saying: "The work of the mission should help create the conditions conducive to launching the much-needed political process, which would address the legitimate concerns and aspirations of the Syrian people.
"I call on the government and the opposition and all the people of Syria to prepare to engage in such a process as a matter of utmost priority."
Only days after being deployed, the team of seven observers in Syria acknowledged they faced a tough task to firm up the ceasefire agreed to last week by embattled President Bashar Assad.
A spike in violence had already forced the Arab League to end its own Syrian monitoring mission in late January, barely a month after it was launched.
22 April 2012, 19:14
01
You brain washed fool... The Israelis loved the Assad family, for 30 years they never fired a single shot in the Golan... go figure... the hypocrisy is that they say they support the Palestinian cause but that is just a lie lie lie.
22 April 2012, 19:29
00
Kofi Annan is risking his personal credibility in attempting to manage the Syrian Crisis. He is being totally ineffectual to change or alter the course of events in Syria. His "initiative" is not even buying time as the killing goes on unabated, with small breaks so that the UN Observer Team doesn't get shot as the meager 30 man team, now 300 man team attempts to cover all of the territory.
Syria is not a country but a family run mafia posing as a country. Its importance is tied to regional players like Iran. As soon as Iran no longer needs its "marriage of convenience" with Assad, he will be dropped like a bad habit.
The success of the P5+1/Iranian Nuclear Talks in Istanbul this week moves the clock closer to Iran's discarding of Assad as not needed.
22 April 2012, 19:34
00
Iran protected Assad all of these years for one reason. The over arching need for Iran to attain regional security by developing its nuclear capacity. As a regional ethnic and religious minority, there are no natural allies for Iran so it needs the nuclear option. It needs to at least fake a nuclear bomb capacity like Saddam used to pretend he had WMD, just to keep the neighbors honest.
With the US hostile, IRan needed Syria because Iran needed Hezbollah on Israel's border to provide regional strategic leverage and to deter an Israeli pre-emptive strike on its facilities.
But, with the US having come off of the Israeli position of no Iranian nuclear enrichment (the right of every NPT member), to no nuclear bomb development, a critical obstacle is broken. By diplomacy, Iran can achieve a strategic national objective without the need or cost of its regional military alliance with Syria or Hezbollah.
22 April 2012, 19:37
10
In 2002, Iran made the same offer to the Bush Administration to end its Syrian alliance and its support for Hezbollah in exchange for exercising its rights under the NPT to peaceful nuclear development. Bush rejected it and we started on this path. Obama has taken up the offer and Iran apparently is still willing.
Israel is appalled; Hezbollah is perplexed; Assad is going down. And if I were in the leadership of M14, I'd be in front of a microphone and expressing my support for Iranian nuclear development for peaceful purposes. Whatever is bad for Hezbollah, Israel and Assad is always good for Lebanon.
22 April 2012, 20:58
01
Annan is a fool, I think he's on Assad's payrol or something because he seems to be trying his hardest to buy the tyrant more time for the latter to finish killing his opposition. if assad agreed to stop fighting why is then Annan asking him to stop using his heavy weapons. Assad needs to be taught a lesson to abide by his promises. Everytime he violates the deal, send a cruise missile to take out one of his ministries, or army installations. no need for airplanes, BS corridors or boots on the ground
22 April 2012, 21:14
01
Annan asks Assad to stop using heavy weapons, does this mean that killing civilians with light weapons is OK ?
Nothing will stop the Monster except a serious threat which did not materialize yet.
