Annan plan for Syria "on track", spokesman says

International envoy Kofi Annan believes his six-point peace plan for Syria remains "on track" as the truce monitoring team grows to a sixth of its U.N.-authorized size, an official said Friday.           

Ahmad Fawzi, Annan's spokesman, told a U.N. briefing in Geneva that negotiations are being "conducted under the radar" involving the Syrian government and its opposition to cease all hostilities, and "there are small signs of compliance," despite continuing violations of truce conditions such as heavy weapons in populated areas.      

 "The Annan plan is on track," Fawzi insisted. "And a crisis that has been going on for more than a year is not going to be resolved in a day or a week."       

On Thursday, the White House press secretary, Jay Carney, told reporters that "if the regime's intransigence continues, the international community is going to have to admit defeat."      

 Most observers and diplomats agree that the Annan plan has done little to stem the bloodshed, but so far other nations that back it have been unwilling to say it is dead. U.S. officials say the plan is failing mainly because of Syrian government violations.  

As for field events, 14 people were killed on Friday during violence in Homs, Hama, Aleppo and Deir el-Zour, at a time when thousands of anti-Assad protesters rallied in the streets, protesting under the slogan “our loyalty is our salvation”.    

Meanwhile U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned on Friday that if the Syrian government did not honor the U.N.-brokered ceasefire, additional U.N. resolutions should be considered.