Violence continues in Syria

DAMASCUS - A suicide bomber riding a car bomb blew himself up late Tuesday in Syria's southern Daraa province, killing an unidentified number of civilians and law-enforcement members.

This was the latest in a string of suicide attacks that have hit the Arab nation lately.

On Sunday, armed "terrorist" groups committed a massacre in the central province of Homs, leaving 14 people killed, according to the pro-government al-Watan daily.

Moreover, an "armed terrorist group" detonated a booby-trapped car in the northwestern city of Aleppo as the specialized authorities found the car suspicious and were trying to pull it out from the area.

On Saturday, two suicide car bombers detonated their explosives near the aviation intelligence directorate and the criminal security department in Damascus, killing 29 civilians and security personnel and wounding 140 others.

Another car bomb exploded Saturday in Damascus at the Yarmouk camp housing thousands of Palestinians in the south of the city. Syrian state-run SANA news agency said two "terrorists" were killed when their bomb-laden car exploded at the camp.

Nobody has claimed responsibility for the explosions, while the Syrian government has accused some Arab and Western countries of providing weapons and financial support to the armed groups in Syria.

It said in December 2011 that "armed terrorist groups" had killed more than 2,000 army and security personnel during the unrest.

To further increase pressure on Assad, the US Department of Treasury said on Tuesday that it will send Undersecretary of Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence David Cohen to Iraq, Lebanon and the United Arab Emirates this week to discuss sanctions against Iran and Syria.

Cohen said he will discuss international efforts to tighten sanctions against Syria, including those announced by the Arab League.

As an important player in the Syrian issue, Russia on Tuesday called for immediate humanitarian access to Syria and asked all parties to stop violence in the crisis-torn country.h   After talks with Lebanese Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said a ceasefire must be carried out "simultaneously" by the government and opposition groups.

He warned that some fighters and arms have been infiltrating into Syria from Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq and Libya.

One day earlier, the US government urged Iraq to respect a UN resolution that bans arms exports from Iran and stop Iran's possible arms shipments to Syria via its airspace.

Meanwhile, Lavrov demanded that the UN Security Council avoid submitting any ultimatum to Damascus after UN-Arab League special envoy Kofi Annan completed his mission to Syria.

Lavrov said Moscow would support a UN Security council resolution or statement based on Annan's reports only if the UN document meets two preconditions.

"It is necessary that the Security Council approves them not as an ultimatum but as a basis," Lavrov said.

The document also should facilitate Annan's efforts to find agreement among the Syrians, the government and all opposition groups, he said.

Lavrov said that Moscow asked to make Annan's reports public, adding that Moscow has not changed its position on the Syrian issue.

Lavrov denied some reports that said Russia has sent warships to Syrian ports.

Also in Moscow, Russian Chief of the General Staff Nikolai Makarov on Tuesday said Moscow will continue honoring its arms export contracts with Syria.

"We are honoring all of our contractual liabilities. Everything will be fulfilled, because there are no effective sanctions," Makarov told reporters.

In an attempt to stem the violence in Syria, a UN technical mission, which arrived in Damascus late Sunday, held talks Monday with Syria's Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad to discuss ways to settle the year-long crisis and plans to send international monitors to Syria.