Troops Shell Rebel Areas in Syria

The head of the U.N. observers in Syria said Friday a recent spike in bloodshed is derailing the mission to monitor and defuse more than a year of violence and could prompt the unarmed force to pull out.

The observer mission is the only functioning part of an international peace plan that Kofi Annan brokered two months ago. Western powers have pinned their hopes on the plan, in part because there are no other options on the table. There is little support for military intervention, and several rounds of sanctions have done little to stop the bloodshed.

"Violence over the past 10 days has been intensifying willingly by the both parties, with losses on both sides and significant risks to our observers," Maj. Gen. Robert Mood told reporters in Damascus. "The escalating violence is now limiting our ability to observe, verify, report as well as assist in local dialogue and stability projects."

Mood also said there was a concern among the states providing observers that the risk is approaching an unacceptable level for continuing the mission. He did not provide further details.

Mood's comments were the clearest sign yet that Annan's peace plan is disintegrating. The regime and the opposition have ignored a cease-fire that was supposed to go into effect April 12.

On Friday, the Syrian regime kept up a ferocious offensive on rebel areas around the country in one of the most serious escalations in violence since Annan brokered the truce.

AP

In this photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, Syrian soldiers stand at the explosion site where a car bomb exploded near the shrine of Sayyida Zeinab, seen in the background, suburb of Damascus, Syria, Thursday, June 14, 2012. A car bomb exploded Thursday in a Damascus suburb that is home to a popular Shiite Muslim shrine, wounding at least two people, Syria's state-run news agency SANA reported, while activists said regime troops continued shelling rebellious areas in central Homs province. (AP Photo/SANA) Close

An activist in the northern city of Aleppo said troops backed by helicopters and tanks were engaged in "raging battles" in the rebel-held town of Anadan and several other locations in the province.

The violence did not stop thousands of Syrians in Aleppo city from taking part in demonstrations against President Bashar Assad on Friday.

An amateur video posted online from Aleppo showed screaming, crying men carrying a lifeless body. The men covered him in a Syrian rebel flag, face down in his own blood.

Activists said at least 10 people were reported killed when security forces opened fire on protests across the country, but the toll could not be independently verified.

"Even if I die, I will still be a rebel," sang the leader of a demonstration in the northern city of Idlib, according to amateur video. "Oh Bashar, you will flee."

Syrian troops have been sweeping through villages and towns in Syria's northern, central, southern and seaside provinces this week to reclaim territory held by rebels. The military on Wednesday overran the town of Haffa in the coastal Latakia province, pushing out hundreds of rebels after intense battles that lasted eight days.

U.N. observers entered the nearly deserted town Thursday and found smoldering buildings, looted shops, smashed cars and a strong stench of death, according to U.N. spokeswoman Sausan Ghosheh.

The siege of Haffa, a Sunni-populated village, had become a focus of international concern because of fears the uprising against the Assad regime is evolving into a sectarian civil war pitting the president's minority Alawite sect against the majority Sunnis and other groups. Recent mass killings in other Sunni-populated areas have fueled those concerns.

U.N. observers have reported a steep rise in violence in Syria in recent weeks.

On Friday, Mood said there appears to be a lack of willingness to seek a peaceful transition.

"Instead there is a push toward advancing military positions," he said.

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