International envoy Kofi Annan says the Syrian government has assured him it will respect a Thursday morning cease-fire deadline, but violence continued on Wednesday as government forces targeted protest hubs.
Mr. Annan said he has approached “governments with influence” to ensure all parties respect the cease-fire, set for Thursday at 6 a.m. Syrian time.
He spoke to reporters Wednesday after talks with Iran's Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi in Tehran, where he appealed to Syria's key ally to help end the violence.
Rights groups and activists say at least 11 people were killed in Syria on Wednesday as government forces pounded targets in flashpoint opposition areas including the central Homs region and Damascus suburbs.
Syrian Network for Human Rights chairman Mousab Azzawi says the Syrian government has continued efforts to punish dissenters, in spite of its promises to the international community to halt attacks.
“The regime is just using the tactics to create some kind of very hard mass punishment for those people.”
Azzawi told VOA on Wednesday that Mr. Annan should admit that his peace initiative has failed.
“Everything he has been promised by the regime, the regime just tries to find a loophole in the initiative and tries to empty the initiative.”
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said she will again try to convince Syrian ally Russia that the situation in Syria was “deteriorating” and that the chances of a regional or civil war were increasing. She is due to meet with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov later Wednesday in Washington.
The United States and its Western partners have pressed for stronger action against Syria for months but have been hindered by Russian and Chinese opposition to what those two nations call outside interference in Syria.
British Prime Minister David Cameron criticized Damascus on Wednesday, saying the Syrian government had “cynically exploited” the window for diplomatic talks in order to crack down on its own people.
U.N. officials say more than 9,000 people have been killed in Syria since the uprising began 13 months ago.
