International envoy Kofi Annan says the situation in Syria “continues to be unacceptable,” and has expressed concern about media reports that Syrian troops have attacked civilian areas following visits by United Nations observers.
The observer team is in Syria as part of a six-point peace plan brokered by Mr. Annan, who told the U.N. Security Council Tuesday that “the only promises that count are the ones that are kept.”
U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Susan Rice said the United States has run out of patience.
“The fact that the violence continues despite the so-called cease-fire of April 12 is, in our view, not only unacceptable but reprehensible. And we've been very clear in supporting the dispatch of the balance of the monitoring mission, that the onus remains on the Syrian government to halt the violence, and then subsequently on both sides to maintain a cessation of violence.”
Rice said if the violence does not stop, the U.S. is prepared to work toward “consequences for the Syrian government” and further action from the Security Council.
The council has approved an expansion of the observer mission to 300 personnel. In a briefing Tuesday, U.N. peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous predicted 30 observers will be in place by the end of the week, and that the number will reach 100 within a month.
Exiled Syrian opposition leaders say that number is too small to cover Syria's territory.
U.N. diplomats quote Mr. Annan as saying he is aware of reports that Syrian troops fired automatic weapons and killed a significant number of people in the central city of Hama on Monday. Several U.N. observers had visited the opposition hub a day earlier and were greeted by large crowds chanting anti-government slogans.
Mr. Annan said two of the 11 U.N. monitors deployed in Syria returned to the city on Tuesday to set up a base. Observer mission spokesman Neeraj Singh said the monitors also visited the Damascus suburb of Douma, talking to residents and conducting patrols “for a good period of time.”
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Tuesday that harassment and possible violence against Syrians who meet with U.N. monitors is “absolutely deplorable.”
The small group of U.N. truce monitors has been operating in Syria for more than a week, visiting rebellious areas such as Hama, Homs and the Damascus suburbs, where government forces have been violently suppressing dissent for months.
Mr. Annan also told the council that he received a letter from Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem saying Damascus has withdrawn troops and heavy weapons from population centers as required by the U.N.-backed truce.
Earlier, Mr. Annan's spokesman said Syria has failed to honor that commitment. Ahmad Fawzi said Tuesday Mr. Annan's team has satellite imagery and credible reports showing the Syrian government's promised pullout “has not fully happened.” Fawzi called this “unacceptable.”
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights told VOA Tuesday that gunmen killed a Syrian intelligence officer in the Barzeh neighborhood of Damascus. In another incident, a vehicle rigged with explosives blew up in the capital's central Marjeh district, wounding several people. Syrian state media blamed the attack on “armed terrorists” whom they say are leading the anti-Assad uprising.
In Geneva, the U.N. World Food Program said it aims to deliver food assistance to 500,000 people in Syria “in the coming weeks” — a tenfold increase since December. The WFP said it is expanding its assistance at the request of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent and stands ready to increase its operations in the country further “when access permits.”
U.N. aid agencies have been largely shut out of Syria, but a joint assessment carried out last month with Syrian authorities estimated that at least 1 million people needed humanitarian aid.
The United Nations estimates that more than 9,000 people have been killed in Syria's 13-month crackdown on the revolt, while activist groups put the death toll at more than 11,000.
