Satellite images show Assad’s heavy weapons still in Syrian cities: Annan’s spokesman

With Agencies

Satellite images showed that the Syrian army has not withdrawn all heavy weapons from cities, Kofi Annan’s
spokesman said on Tuesday, as violence killed scores of people nationwide despite the existence of U.N. monitors. The spokesman said Annan has reports that Syrian security forces “perhaps killed” people who had met with U.N. monitors.

Meanwhile, Herve Ladsous, U.N. under-secretary-general for peacekeeping, told the Security Council on Tuesday that it will take a month to deploy 100 unarmed military observers to Syria, envoys said, though Annan argued that a few monitors on the ground can make a difference.

Ladsous told the council that there will be 30 monitors in place in Syria by the end of April out of a total of up to 300 authorized by the Security Council on Saturday to supervise the country’s fragile 12-day-old ceasefire, diplomats told Reuters.

Ladsous added there would be “100 observers in one month” in Syria, a diplomat said on condition of anonymity.

Despite the slow pace of their deployment, even a small number of observers can have an enormous impact on the 13-month old conflict between forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad and the opposition, Annan told the 15-nation council.

“We have also seen events change – at least temporarily – in Homs, where violence has dropped significantly in response to the presence of a very small number of observers,” Annan said, according to a transcript of his remarks.

The United Nations has deployed several observers to Homs to set up a semi-permanent outpost, council diplomats told Reuters.

However Annan said he was “particularly alarmed by reports that government troops entered Hama yesterday after observers departed, firing automatic weapons and killing a significant number of people.”

“If confirmed, this is totally unacceptable and reprehensible,” Annan said. “Two observers have been stationed in Hama today.”

The opposition Local Coordination Committees reported that regime forces stationed at the eastern checkpoint of the city of Kafar Laha, near Homs, launched heavy gunfire at agricultural areas around the city.

The group also reported that “powerful explosions shook the Sultania and Jobar areas of Homs amid regime forces’ heavy gunfire from automatic weapons. The forces are stationed at the checkpoints in Baba Amr.”

Head of the Syrian National Council, Burhan Ghalyoun, has warned that “If violence continues, perhaps we will need to use force to protect civilians.”

The official SANA news agency reported that an “armed terrorist group” shot dead two army officers near Damascus, while the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said a third was killed in the capital’s Barzeh neighborhood.

Damascus residents described the explosion in a pickup truck directly outside an Iranian cultural center, in a popular shopping district, as extremely loud but causing limited damage.

Windows in nearby shops were not shattered and there were no signs of damage to the center, run by Assad’s powerful regional ally, Tehran. Shopkeepers said four people were injured, including a taxi driver.