UN calls on Syria to stop attacks

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called on Syria on Thursday to stop its attacks, asking Damascus to implement Annan's blueprint, which includes a cease-fire that should have taken effect on April 12 but has been violated daily ever since.

"We are there to record violations and to speak out so that the perpetrators of crimes may be held to account," Ban told a summit of the Alliance of Civilizations, a forum promoting understanding between the Western and Islamic worlds, days after more than 100 people were massacred in Syria's central Houla region.

Ban said that UN envoy Kofi Annan has expressed his concern that a "tipping point" may have been reached in Syria.

"The massacre of civilians of the sort seen last weekend could plunge Syria into a catastrophic civil war - a civil war from which the country would never recover," Ban said. "I demand that the government of Syria act on its commitments under the Annan peace plan. A united international community demands that the Syrian government act on its responsibilities to its people."

China on Thursday urged the world to give Annan's peace plan for Syria more time to work, saying there could not be instant solutions to such a complex crisis.

"It is a problem that has been brewing for quite some time now, and its resolution needs a certain amount of time. I do not think that Annan's mediation efforts will be all plain sailing, and there will be reversals and complications," Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin said at a daily news briefing.

Liu also confirmed that there are nine observers from China working in the UN observers group, which demonstrates China's support for the UN as well as Annan.

Armed rebels have given Syria's government until Friday noon local time to observe Annan's plan for ending bloodshed, warning they will take "courageous decisions" if the deadline is not met.

Annan's six-point plan includes a cease-fire that should have taken effect on April 12 but has been violated daily.

Syria on Thursday released 500 detainees who were arrested during the 15-month crisis and were not involved in homicidal acts, state-run SANA news agency reported.

Syria has released hundreds of people who were arrested due to the unrest. Annan recently urged Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to practice his power to release detainees.

Syrian troops on Thursday also shelled the country's central region of Houla where more than 100 people were massacred last week, activists said. At least one person was killed in the latest violence and scores fled in fear of more government attacks, The Associated Press reported.

US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Thursday said the US would need international support, including from Russia, for any military action in Syria.

Clinton said in Denmark's capital on the first leg of a weeklong trip to Europe that UN and international support made possible last year's intervention in Libya.

Clinton told Danish students in Copenhagen that the US hasn't given up on persuading Moscow to get tougher on Assad. But she stopped short of saying a military response was necessary.

Russian President Vladimir Putin warned on Thursday that Russia's position on Syrian issue would not shift under pressure. The crisis is likely to top the agenda during his visits to Berlin and Paris this week.

"Russia's position is well-known. It is balanced and consistent and completely logical," Interfax quoted Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying.

"So it is hardly appropriate to talk about this position changing under someone's pressure."

AFP - Reuters -China Daily