Syrian foreign ministry: Regime won't back down first

A Syrian official says Damascus will not pull troops from cities and towns engulfed in the country's unrest before life returns to normal in these areas.
 
Foreign Ministry spokesman Jihad Makdessi told state TV late Friday the military is in these cities "in a state of self defense and protecting civilians."
     
He spoke just hours after the U.N.-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan's office appealed on Syria's government to stop military activities first as "the stronger party" and in a "gesture of good faith."

Meanwhile, clashes and protests across many parts of Syria are further complicating a peace mission by Annan who has urged the government to lay down its weapons first to immediately end the country's yearlong crisis.       
  
Assad accepted a peace plan brokered by Annan earlier this week and promised on Thursday to "spare no effort" to make sure it succeeds. But he demanded that armed forces battling his regime commit to halting violence as well.          

Underscoring the challenges, activists reported shifting clashes, some close to the capital Damascus, and others in the northern Idlib province, the restive central province of Homs and the country's east. The reported death toll ranged from 34 to 42.            

Thousands of angry protesters emerged from mosques following Friday prayers nationwide, calling for Assad's ouster and protesting resolutions adopted by Arab leaders at a summit the day before in Baghdad. The leaders called for talks between the government and the opposition  not for Assad to step down, which is the key opposition demand.            

The leader of the Syrian-backed Lebanese Hezbollah group, Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, said Friday it has now become clear that the only solution in Syria is a political one that includes Assad himself.            

"The only thing on the table today is a political solution based on dialogue between the government and the opposition and a consensus on serious and real reforms and their implementation," he said in a speech south of Beirut. "This is what would save Syria, and the region along with it."            

For the U.S. and its allies, Syria is proving an especially murky conflict with no easy solutions. Assad's regime is one of Washington's clearest foes, a government that has long been closely allied with Iran and anti-Israel groups Hamas and Hezbollah. Saudi Arabia and other Sunni-led Gulf countries are eager to see Assad's fall in hopes of breaking Syria out of its alliance with their regional rival, Shiite-majority Iran.            

Also Friday, the Obama administration expanded sanctions against top members of Assad's military and security apparatus.            

Clinton, meanwhile, began talks with Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal, then met with King Abdullah in his palace in Riyadh, along with top Saudi intelligence and security officials, according to the Saudi official news agency.            
   
AP