The embattled Syrian regime said it faced challenges from land and
sea on Saturday as security forces beat back infiltrators, Lebanese
soldiers seized smuggled arms and more clashes flared -- another series
of blows to a teetering U.N.-backed peace plan.
This comes a day after a suicide bombing in a Damascus neighborhood killed nine people -- mostly government forces.
Russia, a friend of the
Syrian regime, said the perpetrators of such actions must be punished
and the "terrorists must be repelled decisively."
"Particularly alarming
are attempts by the Syrian intransigent opposition is to escalate the
situation in the country and foment violence even at the cost of
innocent lives," the Interior Ministry said Saturday, according to
Russia's Itar-Tass news agency.
"The provocative purpose
of this is obvious -- to derail the peaceful settlement in Syria,"
referring to U.N. and Arab League envoy Kofi Annan's peace plan for
Syria. The plan calls for President Bashar al-Assad's government and the
opposition to cease fire, allow humanitarian groups access to the
population, release detainees and start a political dialogue.
Meanwhile, the state-run
Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA), reported Saturday that Lebanese military
forces seized weapons bound for Syrian rebels from Libya.
The army intercepted a
ship in the Mediterranean Sea on Friday and found heavy and light
weapons aboard Saturday, Lebanon's National News Agency said. Ten crew
members and the vessel's agent were arrested after the inspection in
Salaata port, north of Beirut, the Lebanese outlet said.
Military forces near the
coastal city of Latakia foiled "terrorists" attempting to infiltrate the
city by sea, SANA said. Fighting led to deaths and injuries, but the
precise number of casualties was not available.
SANA reported the
killings of three security forces and two "terrorists" during clashes in
Aleppo province. It also said an "armed terrorist" group in a
provincial village in Idlib killed two law enforcement members.
Opposition activists said brazen military offensives unfolded across the country.
At least 31 people were
killed on Saturday across the country, said the Local Coordination
Committees (LCC) in Syria, an opposition activist group. Many were in
the Damascus countryside while 12 occurred in the capital's suburbs,
according to the LCC.
At least 10 military
defectors died during clashes in a village in the Damascus countryside,
the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
Opposition
groups and Western governments said Syria has not withdrawn its troops
and heavy weapons from population centers, as the government agreed to
do as part of the plan, and has continued aggressive acts. Syria blames
continued violence on terrorist groups.
"The plan as a whole is
failing thus far," State Department Victoria Nuland said Friday.
"Obviously, we can all see that it is the Assad regime that is failing
to meet its obligations under the six-point plan."
Even though the
cease-fire appears to be unraveling, the United Nations is continuing
its efforts to field a team to monitor the peace plan with an aim toward
forging stability and ending 13 months of bloodshed.
As of Friday, 13
monitors were in the country of 22 million people. An additional 15 are
scheduled to arrive this weekend, and a total of 300 are slated to
arrive in the coming month. The United States is not providing monitors,
but is helping with funding and logistics.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon named Maj. Gen. Robert Mood of Norway as the head of the observer mission.
Syrian activists have
accused the United Nations of failing to move quickly to get its
monitors into the country, but Nuland said preparations take time.
"You have to take
somebody who has experience and training in monitoring, understands U.N.
standards, understands their obligations in terms of human rights."
The United Nations has
to negotiate and sign contracts with governments sending personnel,
which in some cases require parliamentary approval, Nuland said. Then
there's the physical transport of the personnel.
Syria has been engulfed
in violence since March 2011, when the government started started
cracking down on demonstrators who were peacefully protesting al-Assad's
regime. The president's family has ruled Syria for 42 years. Some
opposition members have since taken up arms against the regime forces.
The United Nations
estimates at least 9,000 people have died in the conflict, while
opposition activist groups put the death toll at more than 11,000.
CNN cannot independently
verify reports of violence and deaths within Syria, as the government
has restricted access by most of the international media.
Source: CNN News
Source: CNN News