Beirut: The UN observers in Syria suspended operations on Saturday in response to escalating violence, which is a continuous hindrance in the implementation of peace plan brokered by UN and Arab League envoy Kofi Annan.
Chief monitor General Robert Mood said the fighting posed a threat to his unarmed observers, one of whose patrols was shot at last week, and prevented them from carrying out their mandate to the proposed ceasefire, Reuters reported.
“There has been an intensification of armed violence across Syria over the past 10 days,” Mood said in statement.
“The lack of willingness by the parties to seek a peaceful transition, and the push towards advancing military positions is increasing the losses on both sides.” Diplomats say Mood is expected to brief the UN Security Council on Monday or Tuesday about the unrest in Syria, which head of UN peacekeeping said this week was now in the throes of full-scale civil war.
Syria’s Foreign Ministry said it had been informed of Mood’s decision on Friday evening and told him it understood his concern for the safety of the monitors, blaming the attacks on rebels fighting government forces.
Since the start of the ceasefire deal the “armed terrorist groups” – the label Damascus gives to anti-Assad fighters – had escalated their “criminal activities, which have often targeted the UN observers”, a Foreign Ministry statement cited by state news agency SANA said.
Many hundreds of people, including civilians, rebels and government forces, have been killed in the two months since Annan’s ceasefire deal was supposed to come into effect.
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