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The UN
and Arab League envoy to Syria, Kofi Annan, expects the government to implement
his peace plan immediately.
Mr Annan's spokesman,
Ahmed Fawzi, told reporters: "The deadline is now."The peace plan, which
the government accepted on Tuesday, calls for a UN-supervised cessation of armed violence in all its forms by all parties.
Activists said at least 20 people were killed in
clashes across Syria on Thursday
But activists say
government forces have been shelling the central city of Homs and fighting
armed rebels in the eastern province of Deir al-Zour.
Five people were
killed as clashes erupted in the town of Quriya, not far from the border with
Iraq, when troops opened fire on a protest, according to the Syrian Observatory
for Human Rights.
Earlier, two people
were reportedly killed by government snipers in Homs and the city of Idlib, and
two others were shot dead as they drove through a rural part of Homs province.
The Local
Co-ordination Committees, an activist network, said 37 people had been killed
nationwide, including four children and two women.
'Gesture of good faith'
Mr Fawzi said there
clearly not been a "cessation of hostilities on the ground" in Syria
this week despite the government's acceptance of Mr Annan's peace plan, which
has the backing of the UN Security Council.
"This is our
great concern," he told a news conference in Geneva. "We expect
[President Bashar al-Assad] to implement this plan immediately."
In addition to a
ceasefire, it calls for the withdrawal of soldiers and heavy weapons from
cities, the release of prisoners, delivery of humanitarian aid to those who
need it and free movement for journalists.
Mr Annan wanted the
government to implement the ceasefire first, but also rebels to "lay down
their arms and start talking", Mr Fawzi added.
"If you read the
agreement... it specifically asks the government to withdraw its troops, to
cease using heavy weapons in populated centres.
"The very clear implication
here is that the government must stop first and then discuss a cessation of
hostilities with the other side and with the mediator.
"The rationale
is very simple. We are appealing to the stronger party to make a gesture of
good faith and stop the killing. We are certain that if that happens, the
opposition will follow suit."
He also said Mr Annan
planned to visit Tehran and Riyadh to build support for the peace plan, but did
not say when.
Meanwhile US
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is in Saudi Arabia for talks on the Syrian
crisis.
The US Treasury also
announced it was imposing a travel ban and asset freeze on another three senior
Syrian officials - Defence Minister Dawoud Rajiha, Deputy Army Chief-of-Staff
Munir Adanov and Zuhair Shalish, also known as Dhu al-Himma Shalish, the head
of presidential security.
'Terrorist acts'
On Thursday, Arab
leaders meeting in Baghdad called for Mr Annan's peace plan to be implemented
immediately and completely.
"The solution
for the crisis is still in the hands of the Syrians as a government and
opposition," Arab League Secretary General Nabil al-Arabi told the summit
in the Iraqi capital.
Mr Arabi also called
on the Security Council to issue a binding resolution to "not only
stipulate the necessity of stopping the violence, but also finding a suitable
mechanism to cease fire".
President Assad, who
was not invited, said he accepted Mr Annan's initiative, but it was
"necessary to obtain commitments from other parties to halt the terrorist
acts by the armed groups and to withdraw the weapons of these groups and call
on them to stop their terrorist acts".
Countries which
"support the armed groups with money and weapons must be persuaded to stop
this immediately", he added.
Meanwhile, the UK
announced an extra £500,000 ($800,000) of support for Syrian opposition groups
both inside and outside the country.
Foreign Secretary
William Hague said the money would provide "non-lethal" aid to
political opponents of President Assad, including to help activists co-ordinate
protests and gather evidence of atrocities.
He urged Mr Assad to
accept he had no hope of political survival.
The media rights
body, Reporters Without Borders, condemned the killing of two journalists who
it said were shot dead after an attack by Syrian forces on a group of people
trying to enter Syria from Turkey on Monday.
It named the victims
as Walid Blidi, a British national of Algerian origin, and Nassim Terreri,
whose nationality has yet to be established. A third journalist was wounded in
the attack and is in a hospital in Antakya.
The UN says at least
9,000 people have been killed since pro-democracy protests erupted last March.
The government says about 3,000 members of the security forces have died
combating "armed terrorist gangs".
by BBC WORLD NEWS
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