UN Chief: Syria Has Not Complied With Truce

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An advance team of UN observers was taken to a suburb in the Syrian capital Damascus

8:29am UK, Thursday April 19, 2012

The head of the United Nations has said Syria has not fully complied with the terms of a ceasefire to which it had signed up.

UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon said the level of violence dropped markedly on April 12 - the day a ceasefire called for by international envoy Kofi Annan went into effect.
But he said violent incidents and reported casualties have escalated again in recent days.
Mr Moon also said an advance observer team has visited Deraa. However, a request to visit embattled Homs was denied for security reasons.

Mr Ban has recommended the UN Security Council approve an expanded 300-strong observer mission to the country.
He said a three-month observation mission gave "chance for progress" despite the Syrian government's failure to implement a peace plan.
In a report to the security council, Mr Ban said the proposed mission "would greatly contribute to observing and upholding the commitment of the parties to a cessation of armed violence in all its forms".
The plan is for unarmed observers to supervise the truce between forces loyal to President Bashar Assad and opposition fighters seeking to oust him.

Some of the UN observers in the Syrian capital Damascus

Syrian security forces apparently opened fire on Wednesday at anti-regime demonstrators surrounding the cars of the advanced UN observer team, according to activists and amateur videos.
The fresh violence in the Damascus suburb of Arbeen provided the first public glimpse of the work of the small team struggling to reinforce the international community's efforts to end 13 months of deadly conflict.
The team did not announce its plans to visit the area, but a local activist said residents guessed they were coming when tanks posted throughout the area withdrew on Wednesday morning.

A Turkish police officer guards a ship suspected of smuggling arms to Syria

Amateur videos posted online showed hundreds of demonstrators crowding around at least three white UN vehicles, waving Syrian flags and chanting anti-regime slogans.
In one video a man with a microphone and huge speakers on the back of a pickup truck led the crowd in singing "Bashar, Bashar, we will not kneel!"
A handwritten sign apparently taped by a demonstrator on one of the cars read: "The murderer keeps killing, the observers keep observing and the people keep up the revolution."
The UN estimates more than 9,000 Syrians have died in the conflict, while the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights puts the figure above 11,100.