Bashar al-Assad accused of wanting to 'wipe Homs off the map' as activists report 17 people killed by security forces
UN observers must be swiftly deployed to Syria or "other options" will be considered, President Bashar al-Assad was warned as western countries kept up pressure on him to maintain a shaky ceasefire and comply with an internationally-backed peace plan to end the crisis.
In Paris, President Nicolas Sarkozy compared the situation in the Syrian city of Homs to that of Benghazi in Libya, where attacks by the Gaddafi regime triggered Nato intervention last year. Sarkozy also repeated a call to set up humanitarian corridors in Syria — a suggestion other countries consider unrealistic and unlikely to win backing from Russia.
"Bashar al-Assad is lying … He wants to wipe Homs off the map just like Gaddafi wanted to destroy Benghazi," Sarkozy told Europe 1 radio.
In Syria, opposition activists reported 17 people had been killed by security forces. The government in turn accused armed groups of breaching the week-old truce, part of a six-point plan being promoted by the former UN secretary general Kofi Annan. In all, some 10,000 people have died in the last 13 months of the uprising.
Ministers from the Friends of Syria group met in Paris to discuss next steps, but deep international divisions were again underlined by Russia, which stayed away from what it called a one-sided event.
"Every day that passes means tens of new Syrian civilian deaths," said a draft statement obtained by Reuters. "It is not time to prevaricate. It is time to act. Though fragile, the Annan mission represents a last hope." If it failed, "other options" would have to be considered.
In New York, the UN security council discussed Annan's plan. He called for the speedy arrival of a first wave of unarmed observers to monitor implementation of his plan, to be followed by a second wave. Up to 30 could be deployed next week and 250-300 eventually, despite scepticism about their effectiveness. Just six are currently in Syria. In one incident, snipers fired on a crowd when observers visited the Damascus suburb of Arbeen.
Susan Rice, the US ambassador to the UN, said Annan had "confirmed that what has happened … does not constitute full compliance by the Syrian government … as Syrian forces and weapons remain in and around population centres".
In addition to a ceasefire, Annan's plan also calls for dialogue between the government and opposition aimed at a "political transition".
In Washington, the US defence secretary, Leon Panetta, predicted that it was only "a matter of time" before Assad fell in the face of what was now a full-fledged insurgency. "Make no mistake – one way or another, this regime ultimately will meet its end," he told the House armed services committee. The US, he said, was "reviewing and planning for a range of additional measures that may be necessary to protect the Syrian people"