Syria ceasefire imperilled as govt vows crackdown

Syria's ceasefire increasingly was under threat on Sunday as the government vowed a crackdown on a wave of "terrorist attacks" and its forces shelled Homs on the day the first UN peace monitors were due to enter the country.
An initial team of UN ceasefire monitors was expected to arrive on Sunday evening and will be deployed on Monday in an effort to keep the peace plan on track, the spokesman for international mediator Kofi Annan said.
They will be joined by two dozen more observers in coming days in line with a UN Security Council resolution adopted on Saturday authorising the deployment of up to 30, Ahmad Fawzi said. "Of course we are hoping that the process holds together until the observers get on the ground," Fawzi told Reuters in Geneva.
The Syrian government said it could not be responsible for the safety of the monitors unless it is involved in "all steps on the ground", government spokeswoman and presidential adviser Bouthaina Shaaban said.
She also said the number of monitors could rise to 250, but that Syria reserved the right to agree on the nationality of those participating.
Fawzi confirmed that the size of the mission could be expanded to 250, or perhaps somewhat more, contingent upon a second Security Council resolution that he expected would be discussed and adopted "before the end of next week".
"The mission will include civilians, political officers and human rights experts in order to observe the full implementation of the six-point plan, which includes a lot more than the cessation of hostilities," he said, referring to the peace plan brokered by Annan.
On the day the first observers with due in Syria, the city of Homs, one of the hotbeds of opposition to President Bashar al-Assad, was being bombed by government forces at a rate of "one shell per minute", an activist said. Activist sources reported six people were killed on Sunday, and four bodies were found.
The Syrian state news agency SANA said a "terrorist group" ambushed armed forces in Idlib province, killing a soldier and wounding three others.
Syria said it would stop what it called "terrorist groups" from continuing criminal acts, state TV quoted a security source as saying, casting further doubt on whether the ceasefire would hold.
"(Security forces), based on their duty to protect civilians and the country, will stop terrorist groups from continuing their criminals acts and the killing of civilians," SANA said.
"Since the announcement of an end to military operations, terrorist attacks have increased by dozens, causing a large loss of life," SANA added. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, speaking in Brussels, said he was concerned about the shelling of Homs and urged the Syrian government to refrain from any escalation of violence. "As I've been stating previously, while we welcome the cessation of violence at this time I warn that the whole world is watching with sceptical eyes whether this will be sustainable.
"It is important the Syrian government takes all the measures to keep the cessation of violence. Again, I'm very concerned what happened yesterday and today when the Syrian government has been shelling the city of Homs and we have already seen some casualties.