Bashar al-Assad (AFP PHOTO/HO-SANA/FILES) Syria's state-run SANA news agency said that "armed terrorist groups" assassinated a brigadier in northern Aleppo province Wednesday and a colonel at Joubar countryside near the capital Damascus. The killings were part of their assassination plots targeting senior army and security personnel.In central Hama province, a 30-year-old civilian was found killed on the same day after being kidnapped by unidentified gunmen for three months, said SANA, adding that marks of torture was seen on the man's body.On the opposition side, the Local Coordination Committees (LCC) said that overnight protests erupted Wednesday in several Syrian cities, including suburbs of Damascus, southern Daraa and northern Aleppo provinces.Activist groups reported that many people were killed, but the reports have not been independently verified.Some Western media reported that Syrian forces, backed by tanks, attacked rebel bastions at the central town of Qalaat al-Madiq in Hama province and other areas on Wednesday.The Syrian army were also trying to storm other rebel positions across the country in a bid to claim control of key rebel strongholds.The United Nations said Tuesday the number of people killed since the unrest began in March last year has exceeded 9,000.The Syrian government, however, accused Takfiri terrorists of being behind the unrest in Syria. It said more than 2,500 army and security personnel have been killed during the year-long crisis.Also on Wednesday, Jordanian media said that more than 600 Syrians fled into Jordan illegally to escape violence in their country.The Syrians, mostly coming from the restive cities of Homs and Hama, entered Jordan through the barbed wires along shared borders, the Amman-based Khaberni news portal reported.According to the Jordanian government figures, more than 80,000 Syrians have entered Jordan since March 2011.The UN High Commissioner for Refugees said recently that over 7,000 Syrians in Jordan had registered themselves as refugees with the agency.Turkish officials said that 17,655 Syrians entered Turkey on Wednesday, bringing the total to 32,218.Annan's spokesman said in a statement that the Syrian government had written to Annan accepting his six-point plan endorsed by the UN Security Council, which incudes commitments to ending violence, allowing humanitarian assistance and protests.However, in a statement sent to Xinhua on Wednesday, Syrian Foreign Ministry spokesman Jihad Makdissi stressed that his country will not accept any initiative from the AL now that the 22-member pan-Arab body suspended Syria's membership in November last year."Some talks have emerged that the conferees in Baghdad today are discussing an initiative for Syria, and in response we say that since Syria's membership has been suspended, we are not going to deal with any initiative from the Arab League," Makdissi said in the statement.AL foreign ministers on Wednesday concluded a meeting Bagdad after agreeing on a draft statement on Syria to be submitted to the final session of the 23rd AL summit in the capital of Iraq slated for Thursday.Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said Wednesday that the AL summit will issue a resolution over the Syria issue to back international efforts to end the crisis.Zebari said that such a move would probably bolster the pressures on the Syrian government and the opposition as well to implement peace plans.Zebari said that the Syrian government approved the international plan to solve the crisis, calling on Syrian opposition parties to unify their stances on the plan.Meanwhile, the U.S. State Department said that the Syrian government is not implementing the peace plan put forward by Annan, despite its earlier approval of the initiative.At a regular briefing, U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said that Washington made such a conclusion because it has seen " arrests and violence continuing today across Syria from Darra to Hama.""So it is clear that the Assad regime has not yet taken the necessary steps to implement the commitment that it's made to Kofi Annan," she told reporters.Nuland stressed the need for the Syrian opposition to come up with a united vision.During his visit to Kuwait on Wednesday, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon urged the Syrian president to implement Annan's plan."I call upon President al-Assad to immediately implement these obligations. There is no time to waste," Ban said.As for another latest development on Syria, Russia urged the Syrian opposition to support the peace plan presented by Annan to end the crisis in the country."It is extremely important that the Syrian opposition groups should follow the Damascus example and clearly voice their consent to the U.N.-supported proposal...," Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said.He noted that currently there was a real opportunity to implement lawful aspirations of all Syrians with respect to the country's sovereignty and independence and with consolidated support of the international community to Annan's mission.Welcoming Damascus's support for Annan's proposals, Lukashevich stressed the settlement of the Syrian crisis largely depends on outside players, especially those who have influence on the opposition.Xinhua/ Editor: Fang Yang
Unrest remains in Syria despite peace plan
Unrest remains in Syria although the country has accepted a six-point peace plan presented by Kofi Annan, joint special envoy of the UN and the Arab League (AL) for Syria. Bashar al-Assad (AFP PHOTO/HO-SANA/FILES) Syria's state-run SANA news agency said that "armed terrorist groups" assassinated a brigadier in northern Aleppo province Wednesday and a colonel at Joubar countryside near the capital Damascus. The killings were part of their assassination plots targeting senior army and security personnel.In central Hama province, a 30-year-old civilian was found killed on the same day after being kidnapped by unidentified gunmen for three months, said SANA, adding that marks of torture was seen on the man's body.On the opposition side, the Local Coordination Committees (LCC) said that overnight protests erupted Wednesday in several Syrian cities, including suburbs of Damascus, southern Daraa and northern Aleppo provinces.Activist groups reported that many people were killed, but the reports have not been independently verified.Some Western media reported that Syrian forces, backed by tanks, attacked rebel bastions at the central town of Qalaat al-Madiq in Hama province and other areas on Wednesday.The Syrian army were also trying to storm other rebel positions across the country in a bid to claim control of key rebel strongholds.The United Nations said Tuesday the number of people killed since the unrest began in March last year has exceeded 9,000.The Syrian government, however, accused Takfiri terrorists of being behind the unrest in Syria. It said more than 2,500 army and security personnel have been killed during the year-long crisis.Also on Wednesday, Jordanian media said that more than 600 Syrians fled into Jordan illegally to escape violence in their country.The Syrians, mostly coming from the restive cities of Homs and Hama, entered Jordan through the barbed wires along shared borders, the Amman-based Khaberni news portal reported.According to the Jordanian government figures, more than 80,000 Syrians have entered Jordan since March 2011.The UN High Commissioner for Refugees said recently that over 7,000 Syrians in Jordan had registered themselves as refugees with the agency.Turkish officials said that 17,655 Syrians entered Turkey on Wednesday, bringing the total to 32,218.Annan's spokesman said in a statement that the Syrian government had written to Annan accepting his six-point plan endorsed by the UN Security Council, which incudes commitments to ending violence, allowing humanitarian assistance and protests.However, in a statement sent to Xinhua on Wednesday, Syrian Foreign Ministry spokesman Jihad Makdissi stressed that his country will not accept any initiative from the AL now that the 22-member pan-Arab body suspended Syria's membership in November last year."Some talks have emerged that the conferees in Baghdad today are discussing an initiative for Syria, and in response we say that since Syria's membership has been suspended, we are not going to deal with any initiative from the Arab League," Makdissi said in the statement.AL foreign ministers on Wednesday concluded a meeting Bagdad after agreeing on a draft statement on Syria to be submitted to the final session of the 23rd AL summit in the capital of Iraq slated for Thursday.Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said Wednesday that the AL summit will issue a resolution over the Syria issue to back international efforts to end the crisis.Zebari said that such a move would probably bolster the pressures on the Syrian government and the opposition as well to implement peace plans.Zebari said that the Syrian government approved the international plan to solve the crisis, calling on Syrian opposition parties to unify their stances on the plan.Meanwhile, the U.S. State Department said that the Syrian government is not implementing the peace plan put forward by Annan, despite its earlier approval of the initiative.At a regular briefing, U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said that Washington made such a conclusion because it has seen " arrests and violence continuing today across Syria from Darra to Hama.""So it is clear that the Assad regime has not yet taken the necessary steps to implement the commitment that it's made to Kofi Annan," she told reporters.Nuland stressed the need for the Syrian opposition to come up with a united vision.During his visit to Kuwait on Wednesday, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon urged the Syrian president to implement Annan's plan."I call upon President al-Assad to immediately implement these obligations. There is no time to waste," Ban said.As for another latest development on Syria, Russia urged the Syrian opposition to support the peace plan presented by Annan to end the crisis in the country."It is extremely important that the Syrian opposition groups should follow the Damascus example and clearly voice their consent to the U.N.-supported proposal...," Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said.He noted that currently there was a real opportunity to implement lawful aspirations of all Syrians with respect to the country's sovereignty and independence and with consolidated support of the international community to Annan's mission.Welcoming Damascus's support for Annan's proposals, Lukashevich stressed the settlement of the Syrian crisis largely depends on outside players, especially those who have influence on the opposition.Xinhua/ Editor: Fang Yang
Bashar al-Assad (AFP PHOTO/HO-SANA/FILES) Syria's state-run SANA news agency said that "armed terrorist groups" assassinated a brigadier in northern Aleppo province Wednesday and a colonel at Joubar countryside near the capital Damascus. The killings were part of their assassination plots targeting senior army and security personnel.In central Hama province, a 30-year-old civilian was found killed on the same day after being kidnapped by unidentified gunmen for three months, said SANA, adding that marks of torture was seen on the man's body.On the opposition side, the Local Coordination Committees (LCC) said that overnight protests erupted Wednesday in several Syrian cities, including suburbs of Damascus, southern Daraa and northern Aleppo provinces.Activist groups reported that many people were killed, but the reports have not been independently verified.Some Western media reported that Syrian forces, backed by tanks, attacked rebel bastions at the central town of Qalaat al-Madiq in Hama province and other areas on Wednesday.The Syrian army were also trying to storm other rebel positions across the country in a bid to claim control of key rebel strongholds.The United Nations said Tuesday the number of people killed since the unrest began in March last year has exceeded 9,000.The Syrian government, however, accused Takfiri terrorists of being behind the unrest in Syria. It said more than 2,500 army and security personnel have been killed during the year-long crisis.Also on Wednesday, Jordanian media said that more than 600 Syrians fled into Jordan illegally to escape violence in their country.The Syrians, mostly coming from the restive cities of Homs and Hama, entered Jordan through the barbed wires along shared borders, the Amman-based Khaberni news portal reported.According to the Jordanian government figures, more than 80,000 Syrians have entered Jordan since March 2011.The UN High Commissioner for Refugees said recently that over 7,000 Syrians in Jordan had registered themselves as refugees with the agency.Turkish officials said that 17,655 Syrians entered Turkey on Wednesday, bringing the total to 32,218.Annan's spokesman said in a statement that the Syrian government had written to Annan accepting his six-point plan endorsed by the UN Security Council, which incudes commitments to ending violence, allowing humanitarian assistance and protests.However, in a statement sent to Xinhua on Wednesday, Syrian Foreign Ministry spokesman Jihad Makdissi stressed that his country will not accept any initiative from the AL now that the 22-member pan-Arab body suspended Syria's membership in November last year."Some talks have emerged that the conferees in Baghdad today are discussing an initiative for Syria, and in response we say that since Syria's membership has been suspended, we are not going to deal with any initiative from the Arab League," Makdissi said in the statement.AL foreign ministers on Wednesday concluded a meeting Bagdad after agreeing on a draft statement on Syria to be submitted to the final session of the 23rd AL summit in the capital of Iraq slated for Thursday.Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said Wednesday that the AL summit will issue a resolution over the Syria issue to back international efforts to end the crisis.Zebari said that such a move would probably bolster the pressures on the Syrian government and the opposition as well to implement peace plans.Zebari said that the Syrian government approved the international plan to solve the crisis, calling on Syrian opposition parties to unify their stances on the plan.Meanwhile, the U.S. State Department said that the Syrian government is not implementing the peace plan put forward by Annan, despite its earlier approval of the initiative.At a regular briefing, U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said that Washington made such a conclusion because it has seen " arrests and violence continuing today across Syria from Darra to Hama.""So it is clear that the Assad regime has not yet taken the necessary steps to implement the commitment that it's made to Kofi Annan," she told reporters.Nuland stressed the need for the Syrian opposition to come up with a united vision.During his visit to Kuwait on Wednesday, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon urged the Syrian president to implement Annan's plan."I call upon President al-Assad to immediately implement these obligations. There is no time to waste," Ban said.As for another latest development on Syria, Russia urged the Syrian opposition to support the peace plan presented by Annan to end the crisis in the country."It is extremely important that the Syrian opposition groups should follow the Damascus example and clearly voice their consent to the U.N.-supported proposal...," Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said.He noted that currently there was a real opportunity to implement lawful aspirations of all Syrians with respect to the country's sovereignty and independence and with consolidated support of the international community to Annan's mission.Welcoming Damascus's support for Annan's proposals, Lukashevich stressed the settlement of the Syrian crisis largely depends on outside players, especially those who have influence on the opposition.Xinhua/ Editor: Fang Yang
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