Syria derides UN chief as peace plan in crisis
LEBANON: Syria derided U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon as biased and called
his comments “outrageous” Saturday after he blamed the regime for
widespread cease-fire violations - the latest sign of trouble for an
international peace plan many expect to fail.
In new fighting Saturday, activists said regime forces battled army
defectors near President Bashar Assad's summer palace in a coastal
village and shelled a Damascus suburb in pursuit of gunmen.
State media said government troops foiled an attempt by armed men in
rubber boats to land on Syria's coast, the first reported attempt by
rebels to infiltrate from the sea. The regime's verbal attack on the
U.N. secretary general raised new concerns that Assad is playing for
time to avoid compliance with a plan that could eventually force him out
of office. Under special envoy Kofi Annan's six-point road map, a
cease-fire is to be followed by the deployment of as many as 300 U.N.
truce monitors and talks between Assad and the opposition on Syria's
political future.
The head of the observer team, Norwegian Maj. Gen. Robert Mood, is to
arrive in Damascus on Sunday to assume command, said spokesman Neeraj
Singh.
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