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Subscribe to RSSThe Syrian government says it will observe a ceasefire brokered by U.N. special envoy Kofi Annan. The regime warned it still has the right to defend itself against attacks. ITN's Paul Davies reports.
BEIRUIT -- The deadline for a U.N.-backed ceasefire aimed at halting more than a year of violence in Syria passed on Thursday with no immediate reports of fighting, activists said.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported the sound of explosions in the town of Zabadani, close to the border with Lebanon, shortly after the 6 a.m.deadline expired, but said it was not clear what had caused the blasts.
A resident of the town said there had been shelling of the town overnight, but that she heard nothing after the deadline. Other activists in the cities of Hama, Homs and Damascus said the situation was calm.
Syria's Defense Ministry said on Wednesday it would halt operations on Thursday morning, but made no mention of an army pullback from cities and said it would confront "any assault" by armed groups. Attacks on opposition neighborhoods over the last week have fuelled doubts it would comply with the truce.
PhotoBlog: Life in a Syrian refugee camp
None of the activists said they had seen any sign of tanks pulling back from urban centers, one of the points Syria agreed to under the ceasefire.
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Any bets this cease fire doesn't last 72 hours? And the government has already violated it by not pulling back their troops which apparently they agreed to do as part of the cease fire. I would think the situation there is tenuous at best!
All the while McCain is beating the war drums trying to get the US involved. No lessons learned from "shrubs" administration.
I am so happy that McCain did not win 2008, or we would be fighting three wars right now.
Sadly, there are still many Americans which still dumbly believe the U.S stands for "freedom" and "peace", and not imperialism and war. According to a recent academic study, the U.S is directly responsible for more than 20 millions deaths in the last 40 years during "peace-time" years. Just in Iraq it caused over 1 million kids to die. I'm embarrassed to be an American. No wonder why the whole world hates us!
I still believe the U.S. stand for "freedom" (peace, I dunno, meh). Which is why I want to see our pledged donation to the Syrian Free Army transferred right away to help them organize against Assad's soldiers. Arming the rebels or not I'll leave to the administration's discretion, but there's no reason for us to stand by and do nothing.
Every day there is a cease fire that works, is another day we loose the chance to witness these animals kill each other other. Who really gives a rats' as& about this entire region?
But every day it continues, the likelihood that the U.S. gets involved increases. That is why it NEEDS to stop!
Its not that I don't care about those people, its just that I care about our people more. Getting involved will cost American lives more than the Syrians.
Obviously the U.S govt cares about this region, but only its resources, not its people!!! LOL
I do.
Anybody who likes having gas in their car should show at least a LITTLE interest. Every conflict makes it harder to get crude to the pump.
Why should a cease fire be anything other than a standstill? Why should one side cede ground to the other?
You may want the opponent to give up something for nothing, but he will not, unless he is stupid. Plans based on the assumption that your opponent is stupid are unrealistic and therefore are likely to fail.
Arm the rebels....let the muslum slaughter resume..sit back and watch the muslum numbers decrease..
You do that when they turn those weapons against us, I hope you are the one enlisted and fighting these people in the first wave.
Just slip the rebels some obsolete anti-tank weapons and the ammunition for them. That will level the playing field significantly as tanks are at a disadvantage in urban areas. Then members of the military who are not Alawi hardliners may start to defect in greater numbers.
Aren't you the military strategist... Are you a political strategist too?
Syrian ceasedfire is holding up so far- but Turkey is demanding that NATO protect 'the border' while Turkish police are rounding former military people of the Feb 28,1997 affair and Turkish troops so far killed 2 Kurds (Turkish citizens)in SE Turkey alleging they belong to the Kurdistan Workers'Party- introducing head scarves for students and obligatory Islam in classes,killing a Protestant priest and the rest fearing for their lives, even charging the Vatican for millions for taxes on the oldest (1400 +)church property- the everyday life in Turkey while trying to find an excuse to start real flyzones into Syria. Christians of every domination, Shiites and seculars are the real target .
??
You are clearly bumbling and rambling. There are HUNDREDS of churches in Syria you moron. WTF do you know about what seems to be going on there? Riling up people by claiming attacks on Christians is outright moronic if not legally culpable. You;re yelling fire in a church @!$%#.
BTW, you might have been thinking about Egypt instead ? THAT is where churches got attacked. Do all Arabs look alike to you ? Your racism and xenophobia are showing.
Reading msnbc.com or watching cnn only qualifies you as a typical american idiot with no brains of your own. You also seem to be repeating the zionist administration views and using insignificant and WRONG facts while you're at it.
Go back to the third grade where you belong ... Stay off these pages
I wonder what the U.S would do if armed militias started going around the country demanding change in the govt. Would it let the militias simply take over towns and obey a U.N. brokered cease-fire? Hell no it wouldn't!!! It would send in the army, navy and air force and crash and kill everyone! After all, this is the exact thing the U.S did to take over Texas, California, Colorado and Nevada 100 years ago. It went it and started mass killing everyone. Oops!, there's another difference though, that land didn't even belong to the U.S., it was Mexico's. LOL. The US has no moral authority around the world, reason why the whole world hates the U.S...not because of its "freedom", but because of its huge hypocrisy.
None of that is really relevant to this case or the progression of the Arab spring, but thanks for sharing your random bursts of pointless anger!
Investigate the UN instead of syria where american cia agents are stirring up the pot. The UN is a zionist controlled entity now and will do whatever the united states tries to pressure it to do. THANK GOD for the Russians and the CHinese who SEE through the zionist controlled united states administration.
The CHinese are slow but they figured it out. This wasn't about protecting Syrians but more about destroying another Arab country as per the zionist agenda. The zionists in the united states are outright TRAITORS putting the interest of stupid moronic israel ahead of the united states. If you are a zionist, you are a traitor and your kind should be extricated from this culture where you parasitically exist. Usurping us is not going to happen much more. WE SEE YOU @!$%#S :-)
Those are some grade A delusions, there. Putting aside all the Zionist ranting, China and Russia are looking out for the world? Ha!
The best part is how you associate the overthrow of secular Arab dictators with a Zionist conspiracy, when any Zionist would prefer the dictator to the chance of an Islamic government replacing it.
Silly hate-fueled conspiracy theorists. Not EVERYTHING bad that happens is the fault of your particular scapegoat, you know.
This just proves that Hillary and Nancy, who had the privilege of meeting with Assad, were correct in their post meeting assessment in which they both agreed that Assad is a true reformer.
How does this prove he's a true reformer? Because he FINALLY kept one of his promises to stop murdering his own people?
That's not reform. That's simple restraint. And even now, it's come far too late.
Well, this is a surprise. The guns fall silent.
Now hopefully our aid agencies can swoop in and distribute supplies, ship out, and then the entire rebellion can build up momentum again.
I mean, there's no way this is going away. Assad has lost control of everything but the military and central government. One way or another, he's on his way out.