Syrian assault dashes hopes

Hope of ceasefire dims as bloodshed escalates

BEIRUT: Syria has launched a blistering assault on the outskirts of its capital, shelling residential areas and deploying snipers on rooftops as international envoy Kofi Annan demanded every fighter lay down arms in time for a Unbrokered ceasefire.

The bloodshed on Thursday undermined already fading hopes that more than a year of violence will end soon, and France accused President Bashar Assad of trying to fool the world by accepting Annan’s deadline to pull the army back from population centres by April 10.

According to the plan, rebels are supposed to stop fighting 48 hours later, paving the way for talks to end Assad’s violent suppression of the uprising against his rule. The UN says more than 9,000 people have died.

“Can we be optimistic? I am not. Because I think Bashar Assad is deceiving us,” French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said in Paris.

UN Secretary-general Ban Ki-moon said the crisis was getting worse, even though the Syrian government accepted Annan’s plan on March 27.

Activists have accused the regime of stepping up attacks across the country, and they described Thursday’s assault in Douma as among the worst around the capital since the uprising began.

“Cities, towns and villages have been turned into war zones. The sources of violence are proliferating,” Ban told the UN General Assembly.

“The human rights of the Syrian people continue to be violated. ... Humanitarian needs are growing dramatically.”

He said the violence had not stopped and

Can we be optimistic? I am not. Because I think Bashar Assad is deceiving us. — ALAIN JUPPE

the situation on the ground “continuesti tot deteriorate”. dt

Black smoke billowed from residential areas of Douma, about 12km outside Damascus, amid heavy cracks of gunfire. Douma, which has seen anti-assad activities since the uprising began, has been subjected to several campaigns by Assad’s regime over the past year.

Activists said soldiers occupied Douma’s Grand Mosque, one of the largest in the area.

“No one dares to walk in the streets because of the snipers,” Syrian activist Omar Hamza said. “They are like stray dogs attacking sheep.”

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights also said troops clashed with army defectors in the northern towns of Hraytan and Anadan near Syria’s largest city of Aleppo. Observers have expressed deep scepticism that Assad will abide by the peace plan, in part because large swathes of the country could slip out of his control if he pulls back the troops.

Analysts say Syria likely will to try to manipulate the terms of the plan to buy more time, or to argue that the regime cannot lay down its arms when “terrorists” are on the attack.

The regime denies that the uprising is the result of a popular will in Syria, calling it a foreign conspiracy being carried out by terrorists and gangs. — AP