Syrian rebels ditch UN-backed truce, resume attacks

PanARMENIAN.Net - Syrian rebels said on Monday, June 4 they were no longer bound by a U.N.-backed truce because President Bashar al-Assad had failed to observe their Friday deadline to implement the ceasefire and had only attacked government forces to defend "our people," Reuters reported.

A Syrian opposition watchdog appeared to underline the rebel statement by saying at least 80 Syrian troops were killed in a surge of attacks at the weekend.

International mediator Kofi Annan, due to brief the U.N. Security Council and General Assembly on Thursday, urged major powers to ensure his peace plan was implemented by both sides as it was the "only option on the table". Russia has blunted Western efforts to condemn Assad and push him from power.

The May 25 massacre of at least 108 people, nearly half of them children, in the Houla area of Homs province dealt a possibly fatal blow to Annan's proposed ceasefire, which was supposed to take effect on April 12 but never did.

"We have decided to end our commitment to this (ceasefire)," said Free Syrian Army spokesman Major Sami al-Kurdi. "We have resumed our attacks but we are doing defensive attacks which means we are only attacking checkpoints in the cities."

Kurdi said a U.N. observer mission in Syria should be turned into a "peace-enforcing mission", or that the world should impose a no-fly zone and a buffer zone to help bring Assad down. Such ideas have gained little traction previously with Western powers, let alone their Russian and Chinese critics.

The latest violence and a defiant speech by Assad on Sunday raised questions about how long Annan can pursue his threadbare peace plan on behalf of the United Nations and the Arab League.

The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said local doctors had confirmed the names of 80 government troops killed by the rebels.

Insurgents told the group they had killed more than 100 soldiers and destroyed some tanks in clashes across Syria, including Damascus and Idlib province in the northwest. Syria's state news agency reported the burial on Monday of 30 members of government forces killed by rebels.

A Syrian troop pullback was at the top of Annan's six-point plan to halt hostilities, allow peaceful protests, supply humanitarian aid and start a political transition in a country controlled by the Assad family with an iron fist for 42 years.