Syria vows to fight ‘escalated terrorist attacks’ as first UN observers arrive.

The Syrian army pledged to continue fighting armed rebels in anticipation of the arrival of a team of UN observers, as “armed terrorists” have “hysterically escalated” their attacks following the official halt of all military operations.


­The first six observers arrived in Damascus late Sunday, a UN spokesman said. The other 24 are expected to follow in the coming day.


The observers will be monitoring the shaky ceasefire that came into force on Thursday. Aggressions against civilians, army personnel, military checkpoints and private and public properties have all escalated since then, a Syrian military source says. The onslaught came “in conjunction with the UNSC resolution to send international observers to monitor the [ceasefire],”  the official SANA news agency reported on Sunday.


"Out of their duty to protect the security of the homeland and citizens, the authorities will prevent these armed terrorist groups from continuing their criminal aggressions and acts of killings,” the source said.


Over the last few days, dozens of ceasefire violations have been reported from both sides. Opposition activists said that Syrian government shelled the city of Homs on Sunday, claiming at least three people were killed in the attack.


Referring to the latest violence, UN chief Ban Ki-moon said he was “very much concerned about what has happened” in Syria since the UNSC adopted Resolution 2042 on sending a mission of unarmed UN observers to the troubled country.


Meanwhile, an advance team of UN observers comprised of six monitors is due to arrive to Syria on Sunday evening.


They will be “on the ground in blue helmets tomorrow,” said Annan’s spokesman Ahmad Fawzi. “They will be quickly augmented by up to 25 to 30 from the region and elsewhere.”


The team was dispatched to Syria as soon as the UN Security Council unanimously approved the advance mission on Saturday. The observers are tasked with establishing and maintaining contact with both sides of the conflict, and reporting on ceasefire compliance until a full mission is deployed. The UNSC is expected to approve a full scale observer mission of about 250 people next week.


Kamel Wazne, a political analyst in Beirut believes that the whole peace initiative is now under threat. And that is not because the Syrian authorities or the rebels oppose the peace, he said, but because Syria’s neighbors like Qatar and Saudi Arabia would very much like to see the bloodshed to continue.


“Probably, we have seen and witnessed, in the past couple days, a major unrest from other terrorist organizations entering from Arab countries into Syria and causing all this havoc against the stability of Syria,” he explained. “Today was a major escalation, an attack and a lot of assassinations by the opposition against civilians and Syrian officials, mostly military men. And this is happening more often now then before.”

Truce under threat: Syrian violence continues as UNSC debates new resolution...

  A ceasefire in Syria seems to be have been broken after troops clashed with rebels in many parts of the country, reportedly killing five people. The UN Security Council is debating a new resolution to authorize an observer mission in Syria.


­UN Security Council members met behind closed doors Friday to discuss a draft resolution that would allow an observer mission to be dispatched to Syria “as soon as possible,” as requested by Kofi Annan
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Russia’s UN envoy Vitaly Churkin admitted that “it is crucial for the monitors to be on the ground” in Syria. He said however that more negotiation would be needed over the draft resolution, as the text was longer and more complicated than expected.


An advance team of UN observers is "standing by to board planes and get themselves on the ground as soon as possible," Annan's spokesman Ahmad Fawzi said Friday. The team is waiting for a UN Security Council go-ahead, which was expected come later on Friday.


The full UN mission is to include 250 monitors. It will be deployed “if the ceasefire holds and it turns into a genuine cessation of hostilities," Fawzi said.


Despite the fact that the Syrian army put on hold a crackdown on armed rebels, clashes continued on Friday as thousands of protesters took to the streets upon the Syrian National Council’s call for mass rallies. During the day the country saw sporadic outbursts of violence, with the spokesperson for UN envoy Kofi Annan calling the ceasefire "relatively respected."


One confrontation took place on the outskirts of the northwestern village of Khirbel el-Joz, on the border with Turkey, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. The group also says the Syrian army deployed tanks to the area before the clash.


The report comes just a day after the UN-brokered ceasefire was implemented as a step towards bringing the government and rebel groups to the negotiating table. The truce remains shaky at best. Damascus complained that it will uphold its part of the bargain, even though the opposition refuses to guarantee that it will do so.

Cross-border blame game

­Meanwhile Damascus’ spat with Ankara over a cross-border raid by Syrian troops reached a new height on Friday, when the Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem accused Turkey of plotting against his country.


Turkey has a strategy to shelter “terrorist groups that enter Syrian territories, attack civilians and destroy the infrastructure,” Muallem said in a letter addressed to the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.


He said Turkey was harboring terrorist and turning a blind eye to the attacks they launch across the border to “terrorize civilians at the borders and force them to flee into Turkey so as to create a refugees’ crisis and then request human corridors and a buffer zone be implemented.”


The accusations came in response to Turkey accusing Syria of violating its sovereignty by opening fire across the border at a refugee camp. The Monday shootout left two Syrian nationals dead and some two dozen people wounded, including a Turkish aid worker.


Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan threatened that as a member of NATO Turkey would request military help from other members of the alliance.


There are estimated 24,000 Syrian refugees living in camps in Turkey. Some observers say the camps are used by many armed opposition members to take rest, receive medical treatment and re-arm before returning to Syria to fight against the government.

UN Security Council approves monitors' deployment to Syria

The United Nations Security Council has unanimously agreed to send an initial team of unarmed truce observers to Syria.


The resolution, which authorises the dispatch of an advance team of up to 30 unarmed military observers to Syria to monitor compliance with the ceasefire agreement, passed 15-0.


The observers will be tasked with establishing and maintaining contact with both sides of the conflict, and reporting on ceasefire compliance until a full mission is deployed in the country.


"I will make sure that this advance observer mission will be dispatched as soon as possible and try to make concrete proposals by the 18th of April for an official observer mission," UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said.


A spokesman for international envoy Kofi Annan said on Saturday that an advance team of six monitors would arrive in Syria within 24 hours and deploy within 36 hours.


It will be followed by a larger contingent of up to 250 once the situation has stabilised.


The resolution also calls on both sides to immediately ‘cease all armed violence in all its forms’ and for the Syrian government to implement the demand by Kofi Annan to pull troops and heavy weapons out of cities and towns.


It’s the first resolution on Syria the 15-nation Council managed to approve unanimously since the uprising against President Assad erupted in March 2011.


Russia, which has previously vetoed 2 resolutions on Syria, showed satisfaction with the latest document, based on the 6-point plan, worked out by UN-Arab League peace envoy Annan.


The plan was aimed at stopping the violence in Syria which has taken the lives of 9,000 people, according to the UN.


Russian UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said Moscow has always supported Annan's peace plan, and that the unanimous decision made by the UNSC reflects constructive work done by its members.


"Under the influence of Russia and a number of other Security Council members, the draft resolution has been significantly changed," Churkin told the UNSC. "It became more balanced and started to represent reality more adequately. It has taken into account the prerogatives of Syria's government, which will be admitting the UN observer mission."


­A ceasefire was put in place on Thursday as part of the Annan plan. But sporadic violence was reported after truce took effect, with both government forces and activists claiming they were attacked. 


On Sunday, just hours after UN vote, the opposition said the army resumed shelling Homs.


Clashes were also reported on the Turkey-Syrian border near refugee camps.


Damascus insists the Free Syrian Army is using the camps as springboards to launch incursions into Syria.

The Taliban has launched coordinated attacks on the diplomatic area and NATO headquarters in Kabul, also targeting adjoining provinces.

The Taliban has launched coordinated attacks on the diplomatic area and NATO headquarters in Kabul, also targeting adjoining provinces. The group says it's in retaliation for Koran burnings, the US marine urination video and the Kandahar massacre.


"These attacks are the beginning of the spring offensive, and we had planned them for months," Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told Reuters.

One of the most serious Taliban assaults in the last 11 years began just before 2 pm local time. A Taliban spokesman said they targeted Afghanistan's parliament, NATO headquarters, the British and German Embassies, and two hotels and sites along Darulaman Road, where the parliament is located.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the string of attacks shortly after they began, with their spokesman claiming tens of fighters were involved:

“In all these attacks, tens of mujahideen fighters equipped with light and heavy weapons, suicide vests, RPGs, rockets, heavy machine guns and hand grenades are attacking their targets.”

Mujahid added that the attacks had been planned over the course of nearly two months: “It took two months to transfer the weapons and explosives and set up fighters in the specific areas that we planned to attack.”

The Afghanistan International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) confirmed multiple attacks on seven locations across Kabul.

Afghan parliament came under rocket fire, with residents reporting explosions near it. Several attackers attempted to enter the building, but they were driven back by security forces. A police officer was killed and 10 others injured in an explosion near the parliament.

A witness said a rocket-propelled grenade hit the residence of the British ambassador. Two rockets reportedly hit a British Embassy guard tower, according to the reports.

Smoke could also be seen from the direction of the German embassy.  Three rockets struck the Japanese embassy, but nobody was hurt and the embassy's staff was safely evacuated to a nearby air raid shelter, Japan's Kyodo news agency reported.

There have also been reports that Russian embassy buildings were attacked, though Russian diplomats later denied the embassy was under fire.

Suicide bombers took over the Kabul Star Hotel, known to be used by foreigners, launching rocket and rifle fire.

The Taliban claimed they also attacked President Karzai’s presidential palace compound. Later Karzai’s aide said that the Afghan president is under lockdown in Kabul.

An intelligence official told Agence France-Presse that a group of three targeted the home of Karzai deputy Mohammad Karim Khalili. All three were arrested with suicide vests, guns and other explosives on them.

Afghan security forces reportedly managed to capture two suicide bombers, stopping them en route to their targets.

Hours after the first attacks took place, fighting was still underway in the capital, a police chief said.

ANSF stated that the Taliban’s attacks in Kabul were “largely ineffective.”

Several other key locations in the country’s eastern provinces were also targeted.

Four suicide bombers attempted to attack the Jalalabad airport in eastern Afghanistan – an airfield where US troops are based. Two of the attackers blew themselves up after they were stopped at the gate, local officials said. Two others were wounded and arrested.

The Taliban declared that attacks also took place in the eastern Paktia and Logar provinces. In Logar, a group of suicide bombers managed to enter the offices of the provincial governor and the police chief. In Paktia, NATO attack helicopters targeted insurgents holed up in a building.

The Afghan Ministry of Interior Affairs reported at least 17 insurgents and suicide bombers were killed by the Afghan Police Force – including four in Kabul, another four in Jalalabad, three in Paktia, and three in Logar province. Two attackers were arrested. One police officer was killed and 17 police were wounded — 11 in Kabul and three each in Logar and Paktia provinces, the ministry said. Fourteen civilians also were injured in the attacks.