Syria pledges truce, if rebels hold fire

Syria promised to observe a UN-backed cease-fire starting on Thursday, but its forces kept up fierce attacks on opposition neighbourhoods in the hours before the deadline. A Syrian defence ministry source quoted on state television on Wednesday said the army would halt operations on Thursday morning, but would confront "any assault" by armed groups.
UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan said the Syrian government had also assured him it would stop fighting by the dawn deadline he has set for a cessation of hostilities. It agreed "to cease all military fighting throughout Syrian territory as of 6 am (0300 GMT) tomorrow, Thursday, 12 April, 2012, while reserving the right to respond proportionately to any attacks carried out by armed terrorist groups against civilians, government forces or public and private property", Annan's spokesman Ahmad Fawzi said in a statement, quoting a letter from the Syrian Foreign Ministry.
Russia, a powerful defender of President Bashar al-Assad against Western and Arab pressure, said the rebels battling to oust him must honour the cease-fire too. Insurgents, who lack a clearly co-ordinated command structure, have previously said they will stop shooting if Syrian forces pull back and observe the truce as promised. But few in the Syrian opposition believe Assad has any intention of complying with Annan's plan to end 13 months of bloodshed.
"Annan, this is your cease-fire," ran the sarcastic voiceover on an activist video that showed a shopping mall engulfed in flames after it was hit in bombardment of the Juret al-Shayah district of Homs. Sniper fire cracked out in the background. At least 12 people were killed on Wednesday, activists said.
Western powers, too, have scorned Assad's truce pledges, but so far lack an effective policy to curb the bloodshed, given their own aversion to military intervention and the resistance of Russia and China to any UN Security Council action. "Far from fulfilling their commitment, the regime has cynically exploited the window of diplomatic negotiations to crack down even harder on its own people," British Prime Minister David Cameron said during a visit to Indonesia. Activist videos posted on YouTube showed bombs crashing into the Khalidiya district of Homs. Spouts of pulverised debris burst high into the air with each impact and plumes of dust and smoke drifted over the rooftops. The videos could not be verified and the Syrian government bars most independent media from the country.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) said three people were killed in Homs. Shelling killed a man, woman and child in Qusair near the border with Lebanon. Three people were killed near Damascus, the British-based opposition group said. "Mortar fire started at 7 this morning. I can hear one explosion every five minutes," said activist Waleed al-Fares in Homs, where bombardment killed at least 26 people on Tuesday.
If Assad fails to respect a cease-fire, the world should unite against him, using an arms embargo and other sanctions, the main opposition group said, hours before the truce deadline. "The chances that by tomorrow the regime will implement or abide by the cease-fire are weak, as we all know," Syrian National Council spokeswoman Basma Kodmani said in Geneva.
"We would like to see a unanimous decision by members of the Security Council that sends an ultimatum to the regime with a deadline that is not too far down the road that says on such and such a date enforcement measures will intervene," she said. UN action would need the support of Russia and China, which have blocked previous Security Council draft resolutions on Syria, citing concerns about a Libya-style intervention that would breach Syrian sovereignty.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said she would meet Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Wednesday to seek a policy change from one of Assad's few foreign friends. "We will have another go at trying to persuade the Russians that the situation is deteriorating and the likelihood of regional conflict and civil war is increasing," she said.
China expressed "deep worries" about the violence in Syria and called for all sides to respect a cease-fire. Turkey, hosting nearly 25,000 Syrian refugees, said Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu would discuss the Syria crisis with counterparts from the Group of Eight major nations on Wednesday evening, via a video conference call.