US wary of Assad peace plan vow

THE US has responded cautiously to Syria’s sudden acceptance of a United Nations peace plan, wary that president Basharassad’s regime may use its apparent willingness to compromise as cover to press on with a year-long political crackdown.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton gave a guarded welcome to the Syrian government’s endorsement of the six-point plan that calls for an immediate ceasefire with rebels and an eventual democratic transition. She said it was an important step towards peace, but stressed that Assad now has to deliver.

“Givenassad’s history of over-promising and under-delivering, that commitment must now be matched by immediate action,” Ms Clinton told reporters in Washington.

“We will judge Assad’s sincerity and seriousness by what he does, not by what he says. If he is ready to bring this dark chapter in Syria’s history to a close, he could prove it by immediately ordering regime forces to stop firing and begin withdrawing from populated areas.”

Ms Clinton said Assad also must implement the rest of UN envoy Kofi Annan’s plan, which includes allowing international aid workers unfettered access, releasing political prisoners, granting foreign news media unobstructed access and beginning a real political dialogue that can lead to democracy.

Her hesitation reflected the Syrian leader’s previous promises to meet the demands of protesters and laterarab League monitors with democratic reforms that never were enacted.

Fighting persisted in Syria even after an Annan spokesman reported Syria’s acceptance of the UN plan. The United Nations says more than 8,000 people have died since the Arab Spring protests reached Syria last year, prompting government repression of Assad’s opponents and then an armed rebellion.

The increased militarisation of the conflict has led to fears of an outright civil war and some countries in the region are pushing for foreign intervention to aid the rebels.

Diplomatic efforts to solve the crisis have failed and Washington and its allies are sceptical of Assad’s intentions. They say he has repeatedly reneged on reform pledges and no longer has legitimacy as a leader.

But after spending months publicly badgering Syria’s ally Russia to acquiesce to UN mediation, the US is in a position where it has to give diplomacy a chance. It also has few alternatives, considering the administration has removed military options from the table for now. Moscow would oppose any UN mandate for countries to provide weapons to the Syrian rebels or otherwise engage in an armed intervention.

Ms Clinton said the US

and

its international partners would work to disarm the Syrian opposition in the event thatassad lives up to his commitments.

Meanwhile, three Syrian government soldiers have been killed in clashes with rebels in the central province of Homs, an activist group said. The Uk-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the clashes broke out yesterday, when government forces tried to enter the town of Rastan.

Picture: AP. President Assad visits the Baba Amr area of Homs on Tuesday.