UNSMIS: Truce in Syria not holding

The head of a UN military observer mission in Syria said his team was having a positive effect, although he admitted that a hard-won cease-fire was not holding. Meanwhile a human rights organization accused Damascus of war crimes, and clashes between army and rebel forces claimed at least 20 lives. Wednesday was the deadliest day for the Syrian army during a 3-week-old cease-fire, described as “shaky” by the head of UN monitoring mission, Maj. Gen. Robert Mood. Rebels killed more than 20 troops, including 15 soldiers in one attack alone when rebel fighters ambushed them at dawn in Aleppo, northern Syria, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Speaking in his first television interview in his new capacity, Mood brushed off criticism that the United Nations Supervision Mission in Syria has been too slow to get going and said the numbers of boots on the ground would double in the coming days. “This is not easy and we are seeing – by the action, by explosions, by firing – that the cease-fire is really a shaky one. It’s not holding,” the 53-year-old told Britain’s Sky News from Damascus. “But what we are also seeing on the ground is that where we have observers present, they have a calming effect and we’re also seeing that those operating on the ground take advice from our observers.” Two rebels also died in the attack near Aleppo Wednesday, after government forces “scaled up military operations” in the days since the truce took effect on April 12, said the Observatory. In other clashes near Damascus, rebels killed six troops, while the army shelled and torched activists’ homes in the eastern Deir Ezzour province. Loyalist gunfire also killed a civilian in southern Deraa, cradle of the 14-month uprising. In Daraya, soldiers killed two civilians, the Observatory said, adding another died in the same Damascus province town from wounds he sustained months ago. In a report released Wednesday, Human Rights Watch accused Syrian authorities of committing war crimes in the eastern province of Idlib shortly before the truce took effect. “Syrian tanks and helicopters attacked one town in Idlib after another,” Anna Neistat, associate director for programs and emergencies at HRW, said in a statement. “It was as if the Syrian government forces used every minute before the cease-fire to cause harm,” she added. The New York-based watchdog accused regime forces of summary executions, arbitrary detentions and the burning and destruction of civilian property. In some cases, children were executed by regime forces. HRW said that during an April 3-4 attack on Taftanaz, northeast of Idlib city, 19 members of the Ghazal family, including two under the age of 18, were executed by regime forces. Nine males were shot in the head or back. The UN has accused both the regime and its opponents of violating the cease-fire that is part of a peace plan brokered by UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan. The plan calls for a halt to fighting, the withdrawal of heavy weapons from urban areas, a daily humanitarian cease-fire, media access, an inclusive political process, the right to demonstrate and the release of detainees. The United Nations says more than 9,000 people have been killed in Syria since the anti-regime uprising broke out in March 2011, while the Observatory puts the figure at more than 11,100. UN peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous said Syrian troops have kept heavy weapons in cities, and both the government and rebels have violated the truce. Ladsous also said UN member states had so far only offered 150 military observers for the 300 strong- planned force and that Syria had refused visas for three proposed monitors. Syrian Foreign Ministry spokesman Jihad Makdessi stated that denied visa requests had been turned down and the two sides had agreed on the nationalities that could operate in the country. “We agreed with the UN negotiating team nationalities of observers to be mutually agreed upon ... So there is no refusal per se ... There are far more than 110 nationalities that can easily work in Syria,” he told AFP.