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The peace plan for Syria negotiated by UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan is "on track", despite reports of ceasefire violations, his spokesman says.
Ahmed Fawzi told a news conference in Geneva that a crisis which had been going on for over a year was "not going to be resolved in a day or a week".
But he acknowledged there were "no big signs of compliance on the ground" with the ceasefire which began on 12 April.
Activists said at least 23 people were killed by government troops on Friday.
The Local Co-ordination Committees (LCC), an activist network, put the nationwide death toll as high as 37, including 10 people in the Damascus suburbs of Tadamun and Kafr Sousa, and seven in Idlib province.
A couple and their child were also killed by pro-government Shabiha militiamen in the northern city of Aleppo, it reported.
The violence came despite the deployment of 40 unarmed observers from the United Nations Supervision Mission in Syria (UNSMIS), which is tasked with verifying the implementation of Mr Annan's initiative.
Up to 300 observers are expected to be in place by the end of May.
Syria peace plan 'on track' despite violence
The peace plan for Syria negotiated by UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan is "on track", despite reports of ceasefire violations, his spokesman says.
Ahmed Fawzi told a news conference in Geneva that a crisis which had been going on for over a year was "not going to be resolved in a day or a week".
But he acknowledged there were "no big signs of compliance on the ground" with the ceasefire which began on 12 April.
Activists said at least 23 people were killed by government troops on Friday.
The Local Co-ordination Committees (LCC), an activist network, put the nationwide death toll as high as 37, including 10 people in the Damascus suburbs of Tadamun and Kafr Sousa, and seven in Idlib province.
A couple and their child were also killed by pro-government Shabiha militiamen in the northern city of Aleppo, it reported.
The violence came despite the deployment of 40 unarmed observers from the United Nations Supervision Mission in Syria (UNSMIS), which is tasked with verifying the implementation of Mr Annan's initiative.
Up to 300 observers are expected to be in place by the end of May.
BBC News - Syria peace plan 'on track' despite violence
DAMASCUS, Syria Syrians cast ballots Monday in parliamentary elections billed by the regime as key to President Bashar Assad's political reforms, but the opposition dismissed the vote as a sham meant to preserve his autocratic rule.
There were scattered reports of violence, including accounts from activists and witnesses that security forces launched deadly attacks on villages in central Syria where opposition supporters were refusing to vote. The reports could not be indepedently confirmed.
The voting for Syria's 250-member parliament is unlikely to affect the course of Syria's popular uprising, which began 14 months ago with largely peaceful protests. The regime responded with a violent crackdown, pushing many in the opposition to take up arms.
The U.N. says more than 9,000 people have been killed in Syria's turmoil, which many observers fear is rapidly descending into a civil war.
Voters lined up and dropped white ballots in large, plastic boxes after polls opened at 7 a.m. Election officials say more than 7,000 candidates are competing seats in the legislature in a country of almost 15 million eligible voters out of a population of 24 million.
The opposition has called the elections a farce and says it will accept nothing short of the fall of Assad's regime.
As the voting got under way, regime forces stormed several poor farming villages in central Syria where residents were boycotting the elections, shooting randomly and torching homes, two witnesses said. One resident who asked to be identified only by his first name, Zakariya, said at least four people in his village of Qabr Fidda were killed including a father and his two daughters, who were burned alive.
"They also shot at people who fled in to the farms but we don't know anything about what happened to them," Zakariya told The Associated Press by telephone from the village, 30 kilometers (50 miles) northwest of Hama.
DAMASCUS, Syria -- Syria said counting was under way Tuesday after parliamentary elections that the opposition boycotted and the U.S. described as bordering on ludicrous.
Monday's election for the 250-member parliament is unlikely to change the trajectory of the revolt in Syria, which has become a grim cycle of crackdown and reprisal. Parliament is considered a rubber stamp in a country where the president holds the real power.
Special envoy Kofi Annan is to brief the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday about the situation in the country, where about 40 U.N. observers are trying to calm the situation. U.N. officials hope to deploy a larger force of up to 300 observers.
World powers have been unable to stop the bloodshed, and a truce that was scheduled to begin April 12 has never really taken hold. The U.N. says more than 9,000 people have been killed in 14 months of turmoil.
President Bashar Assad's regime praised Monday's election as a milestone in promised reforms and said officials were counting ballots Tuesday. But the opposition boycotted the polls and said they were designed to strengthen Assad's grip on power.
U.S. State Department spokesman Mark Toner said Monday that balloting in the current atmosphere in Syria "borders on ludicrous."
"It is not really possible to hold credible elections in a climate where basic human rights are being denied to the citizens and the government is continuing to carry out daily assaults on its own citizens," he said.
Syria Elections: Opposition Boycotts, US Says Vote 'Borders On Ludicrous'
DAMASCUS, Syria -- Syria said counting was under way Tuesday after parliamentary elections that the opposition boycotted and the U.S. described as bordering on ludicrous.
Monday's election for the 250-member parliament is unlikely to change the trajectory of the revolt in Syria, which has become a grim cycle of crackdown and reprisal. Parliament is considered a rubber stamp in a country where the president holds the real power.
Special envoy Kofi Annan is to brief the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday about the situation in the country, where about 40 U.N. observers are trying to calm the situation. U.N. officials hope to deploy a larger force of up to 300 observers.
World powers have been unable to stop the bloodshed, and a truce that was scheduled to begin April 12 has never really taken hold. The U.N. says more than 9,000 people have been killed in 14 months of turmoil.
President Bashar Assad's regime praised Monday's election as a milestone in promised reforms and said officials were counting ballots Tuesday. But the opposition boycotted the polls and said they were designed to strengthen Assad's grip on power.
U.S. State Department spokesman Mark Toner said Monday that balloting in the current atmosphere in Syria "borders on ludicrous."
"It is not really possible to hold credible elections in a climate where basic human rights are being denied to the citizens and the government is continuing to carry out daily assaults on its own citizens," he said.
Syria Elections: Opposition Boycotts, US Says Vote 'Borders On Ludicrous'
Syria Elections: Opposition Boycotts, US Says Vote 'Borders On Ludicrous'
DAMASCUS, Syria -- Syria said counting was under way Tuesday after parliamentary elections that the opposition boycotted and the U.S. described as bordering on ludicrous.
Monday's election for the 250-member parliament is unlikely to change the trajectory of the revolt in Syria, which has become a grim cycle of crackdown and reprisal. Parliament is considered a rubber stamp in a country where the president holds the real power.
Special envoy Kofi Annan is to brief the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday about the situation in the country, where about 40 U.N. observers are trying to calm the situation. U.N. officials hope to deploy a larger force of up to 300 observers.
World powers have been unable to stop the bloodshed, and a truce that was scheduled to begin April 12 has never really taken hold. The U.N. says more than 9,000 people have been killed in 14 months of turmoil.
President Bashar Assad's regime praised Monday's election as a milestone in promised reforms and said officials were counting ballots Tuesday. But the opposition boycotted the polls and said they were designed to strengthen Assad's grip on power.
U.S. State Department spokesman Mark Toner said Monday that balloting in the current atmosphere in Syria "borders on ludicrous."
"It is not really possible to hold credible elections in a climate where basic human rights are being denied to the citizens and the government is continuing to carry out daily assaults on its own citizens," he said.
Syria Elections: Opposition Boycotts, US Says Vote 'Borders On Ludicrous'
That's about all the UN is capable of: Observing mass murder!
Syria Elections: Opposition Boycotts, US Says Vote 'Borders On Ludicrous'
Syria Elections: Opposition Boycotts, US Says Vote 'Borders On Ludicrous'
That's about all the UN is capable of: Observing mass murder!
The UN couldn't even disarm an angry group of girl scouts.
That's about all the UN is capable of: Observing mass murder!
The UN couldn't even disarm an angry group of girl scouts.
In NY, the UN diplomats observe menus of the best restaurants and observe getting tickets for illegal parking that they don't pay because they don't observe the law.
The UN couldn't even disarm an angry group of girl scouts.
In NY, the UN diplomats observe menus of the best restaurants and observe getting tickets for illegal parking that they don't pay because they don't observe the law.
The UN Headquarters needs to be relocated to the Nuba Mountains in the Sudan.
In NY, the UN diplomats observe menus of the best restaurants and observe getting tickets for illegal parking that they don't pay because they don't observe the law.
The UN Headquarters needs to be relocated to the Nuba Mountains in the Sudan.
Did you hear the latest, that the UN says the US must return its land to the Native Americans? They must have made this decision during happy hour on the East Side.
The UN Headquarters needs to be relocated to the Nuba Mountains in the Sudan.
Did you hear the latest, that the UN says the US must return its land to the Native Americans? They must have made this decision during happy hour on the East Side.
Interesting, how does the UN suppose they are going to enforce this? they couldn't even make an unruly 5 year old girl go to bed on time.
Did you hear the latest, that the UN says the US must return its land to the Native Americans? They must have made this decision during happy hour on the East Side.
Interesting, how does the UN suppose they are going to enforce this? they couldn't even make an unruly 5 year old girl go to bed on time.
The UN is a ball-less debating society
DARAA, Syria A roadside bomb struck a Syrian military truck Wednesday, wounding six soldiers just seconds after a convoy carrying the head of the U.N. observer mission passed by.
An Associated Press reporter who was traveling in the U.N. convoy said the blast cracked the military truck's windows and caused a plume of black smoke. The U.N. convoy was not hit.
The attack was "a graphic experience that the Syrian people live with every day," the head of the U.N. observer mission, Maj. Gen. Robert Mood, told reporters.
He said the observers' work will continue as usual.
The blast went off after Mood headed into this southern city, the birthplace of the Syrian uprising, with a convoy of monitors and journalists. The explosion was more than 100 meters (330 feet) behind the convoy.
"We were driving behind the U.N. convoy as protection when a roadside bomb exploded, wounding a 1st Lieutenant and five troops," a soldier who asked to be identified only by his first name, Yahya, told The Associated Press at the scene.
At least three bloodied soldiers were rushed away.
Mood said he does not know whether the blast was meant to target the observers or the military.
"For me the important thing is really not speculating about who was the target, what was the target, but it is to make the point that this is what the Syrian people (are) seeing every day and it needs to stop," he said. "Whoever is doing it and whoever is supporting it."
It's not clear who was behind the bombing.
But Syria's rebel leader, Col. Riad al-Assad, threatened to resume attacks because the government has not honored a cease-fire, the London-based Asharq al-Awsat newspaper reported Wednesday. Al-Assad told the paper that "our people are demanding that we defend them."
Looks like alot of those guys Syria let flow into Iraq to use IED's and become suicide bombers against US Troops are now back in Syria, the chickens are coming home to roost.
Looks like alot of those guys Syria let flow into Iraq to use IED's and become suicide bombers against US Troops are now back in Syria, the chickens are coming home to roost.
Iran is a bad actor, too Mullen: Lethal Iranian weapons entering Iraq - Navy News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Navy Times
Looks like alot of those guys Syria let flow into Iraq to use IED's and become suicide bombers against US Troops are now back in Syria, the chickens are coming home to roost.
Iran is a bad actor, too Mullen: Lethal Iranian weapons entering Iraq - Navy News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Navy Times
I find it very ironic that the same weapons and bad actors Syria was letting flow into Iraq to kill US Troops are now coming back to Syria to kill Assads soldiers, its almost funny in a morbid sort of way.
I find it very ironic that the same weapons and bad actors Syria was letting flow into Iraq to kill US Troops are now coming back to Syria to kill Assads soldiers, its almost funny in a morbid sort of way.
It's impossible to tell the difference between the bad guys and the good guys. I see them all bad guys until shown otherwise
I find it very ironic that the same weapons and bad actors Syria was letting flow into Iraq to kill US Troops are now coming back to Syria to kill Assads soldiers, its almost funny in a morbid sort of way.
It's impossible to tell the difference between the bad guys and the good guys. I see them all bad guys until shown otherwise
The people fighting Assad are now using suicide bombing and IED's, similar to the people we fought against in Iraq. I definently don't see any good guys over there either.
It's impossible to tell the difference between the bad guys and the good guys. I see them all bad guys until shown otherwise
The people fighting Assad are now using suicide bombing and IED's, similar to the people we fought against in Iraq. I definently don't see any good guys over there either.
Most of the good guys left long ago and now live in New York and elsewhere in the US. The biggest mansions in Brooklyn and Deal, NJ are owned by the good Syrians
