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April 10th, 2012 
FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda The Syrian foreign minister says the Assad regime has withdrawn troops from several provinces. The president has until the end of Tuesday to pull out all forces ahead of a planned ceasefire between the conflicting sides.
“We have already withdrawn some military forces from several Syrian provinces,” declared Walid al-Moualem, following a meeting with Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov in Moscow.
He also says some of the government’s forces has pulled out from Homs, as the Russian Foreign Ministry cites him.
The Syrian FM demanded a guarantee from UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan that opposition forces would stand down and that a deployment of international monitors would coincide with the ceasefire.
Lavrov for his part said that he was convinced of the Syrian leadership’s commitment to the UN-brokered peace plan. He also called on the global powers to try bring the Syrian opposition to their senses:
“The US and other countries which have influence over the Syrian opposition had better stop pointing the finger at China and Russia all the time, but rather use their leverage to convince everyone to stop shooting,” he said.
President Assad has until midnight Syrian time (21:00 GMT) to implement a full troop withdrawal. This will pave the way for Thursday’s planned ceasefire.
Activist reports contradict the Syrian government’s claims, alleging escalating violence across the country. Clashes between regime forces and anti-government activists killed over 160 people on Monday and a total of 1,000 in the last eight days, say opposition groups.
At the same time, the Syrian opposition leadership has voiced their commitment to the ceasefire, reports Al-Arabiya. But if the government’s forces fail to withdraw by Thursday, the rebels will resume fighting, the activists said on Tuesday. If Damascus fails to abide by the peace plan, the opposition says Kofi Annan should take that to the UN Security Council.
The international community has voiced doubt over Syria’s compliance with the peace plan, the Turkish Deputy Foreign Minister Naci Koru referring to the deadline as “void.” The White House said that there were no signs that the regime was abiding by its withdrawal pledge.
France branded the reassurances coming from Damascus “a new expression of a flagrant and unacceptable lie” that “shows a degree of impunity against which the international community absolutely must act.” The UK also says it does not have much faith in Assad’s commitment to Annan’s plan.
Many fear that if the six-point peace plan fails, Syria will plunge into civil war.
Assad and the opposition are currently locked in a stalemate. The regime has demanded a written guarantee from the rebels to stop fighting, a request that has been categorically refused by the opposition.
On Monday the conflict spilt over into neighboring Turkey, where Syrian troops were reported to have fired across the border, killing one and injuring five people.
The Turkish government denounced the attacks and said it would take unspecified steps if the mayhem continued in Syria, summoning Syria’s envoy to Ankara.
The US also decried the cross-border shooting and called for an end to the violence.
Kofi Annan will visit Syrian refugees living in camps along the Turkish border on Tuesday on his way to Iran, where he is expected to try and convince the Iranian government to put pressure on Syria to end the bloodshed.
The international community remains divided over the Syrian conflict. Western powers and the Arab League have been lobbying for opposition support in the form of financial aid and the ouster of Assad. Russia and China are opposed to international intervention and favor a more balanced approach, making equal demands to both the opposition and the Syrian government.
Conflict has racked the country for over a year, with UN estimates putting the total death toll at 9,000. Assad’s government says that the rebels have killed more than 3,000 soldiers and security personnel.
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