Annan to ask UNSC for stronger presence of monitors in Syria

Syria has failed to comply with a pledge to withdraw weapons from cities, and citizens who meet U.N. truce monitors may have been killed, international mediator Kofi Annan will tell the Security Council on Tuesday, his spokesman said.    

As violence flared in the Syrian capital Damascus, spokesman Ahmad Fawzi said Annan would ask for a "stronger presence" of monitors to watch over the country's ragged ceasefire.    

Satellite imagery showed Syrian forces had not withdrawn heavy weapons from urban centers and returned to their barracks, as they are required to do under a plan drawn up by Annan, said Fawzi.    

"This is unacceptable, and Joint Special Envoy Kofi Annan will be saying this to the Security Council today when he addresses them in closed session," Fawzi added in remarks on U.N. Television.    

Annan had also received credible reports that after monitors left a town, people who met them were approached by Syrian soldiers "or even worse, perhaps killed," said Fawzi.   

"They (Syrian authorities) are claiming that this has happened. Satellite imagery, however, and credible reports show that this has not fully happened," Fawzi said.   

Three Syrian military officers were killed in Damascus on Tuesday, state media and opposition groups said, and at least three people were wounded in a car bomb blast in the capital in further blows to the accord.    

SANA, the state news agency, said an "armed terrorist group" shot dead two army officers near Damascus, while the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said a third was killed in the capital's Barzeh neighborhood.    

Damascus residents said the explosion in a pickup truck directly outside an Iranian cultural center, in a popular shopping district, was loud but caused limited damage.    

Windows in nearby shops were not shattered and there were no signs of damage to the center, run by Assad's powerful regional ally, Tehran. Shopkeepers said four people were injured, including a taxi driver.    

The pro-Assad Ikhbaria television channel blamed the blast on "armed terrorists" - shorthand for the rebels who have been fighting to overthrow Assad, inspired by Arab Spring uprisings against autocratic rulers in North Africa and the Middle East.         

Reuters