TURKEY: As the deadline passes for a UN-brokered ceasefire aimed at halting over a year of violence in Syria, border outposts on the border are silent with no immediate reports of fighting

Record ID: 280598

  • Title: TURKEY: As the deadline passes for a UN-brokered ceasefire aimed at halting over a year of violence in Syria, border outposts on the border are silent with no immediate reports of fighting
  • Date: 13th April 2012
  • Summary: GUVECCI, HATAY PROVINCE, TURKEY (APRIL 12, 2012) (REUTERS) SYRIAN ARMY BORDER OUTPOSTS FILMED FROM TURKEY AT 0300GMT VARIOUS OF HOUSES ON SYRIAN BORDER OCCUPIED BY SOLDIERS SOLDIERS ON ROOFTOPS SYRIAN SOLDIERS WALKING IN FRONT OF THE OUTPOST SOLDIERS MOUNTING SECURITY VARIOUS OF HOUSES ON SYRIAN BORDER (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) UNIDENTIFIED SYRIAN REFUGEE, SAYING: "We d
  • Embargoed: 28th April 2012 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Turkey
  • Country: Turkey
  • Topics: International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVAX4ICLUEVEZMZAGYP86MGI26B
  • Story Text: The deadline for a U.N.-backed ceasefire aimed at halting more than a year of violence in Syria passed on Thursday (April 12) with no immediate reports of fighting, activists said.
    A Syrian outpost near the border with Turkey's Hatay Province, manned to prevent refugees fleeing Syria, was silent as the ceasefire deadline passed in the early morning.
    The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported the sound of explosions in the town of Zabadani, close to the border with Lebanon, shortly after the 6 a.m. (0300 GMT) deadline expired, but said it was not clear what had caused the blasts.
    A resident of the town said there had been shelling of the town overnight, but that she heard nothing after the deadline.
    Other activists in the cities of Hama, Homs and Damascus said the situation was calm.
    Nevertheless, Syrian refugees expressed doubt over President Bashar al-Assad's commitment to the ceasefire.
    "We do not trust in the words of Bashar Assad because he is a liar. His government is lying. All the countries know this. His tanks are patrolling in Syrian cities and killing people. Even today he silenced them, he will keep on killing people with rifles, with snipers. We ask Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan to establish a buffer zone and create a safe area for the soldiers of the Free Syrian Army," said one unidentified Syrian refugee in Hatay Province.
    Syria's Defence Ministry said on Wednesday (April 11) it would halt operations on Thursday morning, but made no mention of an army pullback from cities and said it would confront "any assault" by armed groups. Attacks on opposition neighbourhoods over the last week have fuelled doubts it would comply with the truce.
    None of the activists said they had seen any sign of tanks pulling back from urban centres, one of the points Syria agreed to under the ceasefire.
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