Annan in Tehran soon, new sanctions on Syrian Defense Minister

The spokesperson of U.N.-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan said on Friday that Annan will visit Teheran for talks about Syria, adding that the date is yet to be set.  Annan’s spokesperson said that Syrian government should make a gesture of good faith by implementing ceasefire first. 

“Annan expects Syrian government forced to implement ceasefire immediately”, the spokesperson added, “The deadline is now”.

The Syrian Observatory for Human rights earlier reported that Syrian troops raided and burned several houses in the town of Jarjazanaz in Idlib on Friday. The observatory also reported that the Homs neighborhoods are also witnessed violent shelling.    

Meanwhile, Syrian activists called for mass protests to denounce Arab countries for "abandoning" them, following Thursday’s Arab summit that went no further than urging dialogue to resolve the crisis in their country.

"The Muslims and the Arabs have abandoned us... but God is with us... and our determination will carry us to victory," activists said, urging nationwide street demonstrations after the weekly Friday prayers. An Arab League summit in Baghdad on Thursday, largely ignored by Sunni Arab states, approved a resolution calling for an end to the Syrian regime's crackdown on dissent, for the opposition to unite and for parties to the conflict to launch a "serious national dialogue."      

Meanwhile, the U.S. announced that it will impose sanctions on the Syrian minister of defense and two high-level officers in the Syria army.        

Sanctions announced by the Treasury Department included freezing the assets that Daoud Rajha, Mounir Adnouf and Zuhair Shalish may have in the U.S. and preventing U.S. citizens from having any contact with them.