Annan to meet Medvedev on Syria ceasefire

DAMASCUS - UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan is seeking Russian support for his effort to secure a ceasefire in Syria, as violence showed no sign of stopping and the confrontation between government and opposition continues to escalate.

Annan will meet Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow on Sunday to discuss the Syria crisis.

In a statement ahead of the meeting between Annan and Medvedev, the Kremlin said it would be hard to enforce a halt to the violence "until external armed and political support of the opposition is terminated."

Russia, along with China, vetoed in February a UN Security Council draft resolution that would back an Arab League plan to promote a "regime change" in Syria. Russia said the resolution was imbalanced and amounted to an attempt to use international authority to oust Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government.

But Russia has supported Annan's peacemaking efforts and insisted on a political solution without any foreign intervention.

As Annan is seeking to promote his six-point proposal, the situation in Syria is far from encouraging.

"An armed terrorist group" blasted on Saturday a gas pipeline in eastern Deir al-Zour province, in the latest of a string of sabotage acts targeting oil and gas pipelines across Syria.

The blast caused the leakage of about 700,000 cubic meters of gas and the pumping process is expected to re-operate within 72 hours after maintenance work.

At least nine pipelines have been targeted since unrest erupted in Syria in mid-March last year. Syria says "saboteurs" were responsible for the attacks.

On the same day, Syria's security forces clashed with an armed group in southern Daraa province, killing three gunmen and capturing eight others.

And in northern Idlib province, two "terrorists" were killed by security forces while planting an explosive device on a main road in Saraqeb area.

In Homs, Syria's third largest city, army troops resumed heavy shelling of the rebel hub on Saturday, according to media reports.

Idlib and Homs have become the main strongholds of rebels fighting President Assad's government. Government troops have launched several offensives to drive the rebels out of those areas.

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.

The United Nations said recently that more than 8,000 people died in Syria's yearlong unrest.

Meanwhile, Syrian rebels on Saturday set up a military council to unify their ranks.

The rebel Free Syrian Army (FSA) said it had merged with a unit led by the most senior army deserter, General Mustafa al-Sheikh, to form a united military council aimed at closing ranks.

At the same time, the main political opposition group, the Syrian National Council, invited all factions seeking to topple Assad to meet in Turkey on Monday to hammer out a "national pact" of common objectives, local media reported Saturday.

A total of 20 Syrians, including five soldiers and their families, entered Turkey via Yayladagi town of southern Hatay province on Saturday. The total number of Syrian people who have crossed into Turkey to seek shelter now exceeds 17,000.

Seven tent cities have popped up in Hatay's Yayladagi, Reyhanli and Altinozu districts in Turkey, and more shelters are being built in Turkey's southern provinces of Hatay, Kilis, Gaziantep and Sanliurfa. New camps would bring the total capacity for Syrian refugees to about 45,000.