SYRIA: U.N. truce monitors' chief Major General Robert Mood says all members of his team are safe after a report that a U.N. vehicle was left damaged by an improvised explosive device

Record ID: 280839

  • Title: SYRIA: U.N. truce monitors' chief Major General Robert Mood says all members of his team are safe after a report that a U.N. vehicle was left damaged by an improvised explosive device
  • Date: 16th May 2012
  • Summary: DAMASCUS, SYRIA (MAY 15, 2012) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF U.N. OBSERVERS AT THE LOBBY OF THE HOTEL VARIOUS OF MAJOR GENERAL ROBERT MOOD, CHIEF OF THE UNSMIS, TALKING TO REPORTER AS HE ADJUSTS HIS HAT (SOUNDBITE) (English) MAJOR GENERAL ROBERT MOOD, CHIEF OF THE UNSMIS, SAYING: "All the observers in my mission they are safe. All the observers in my mission are safe. Some of t
  • Embargoed: 31st May 2012 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Syrian Arab Republic
  • Country: Syria
  • Topics: Crime,Conflict,International Relations,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA7JJZ6BYYY65AT708QP8YG8NTJ
  • Story Text: Major General Robert Mood, Chief of the United Nations Supervision Mission in Syria (UNSMIS), said on Tuesday (May 15) all U.N. monitors on missions across Syria were safe and that he had spoken to all of them.
    "All the observers in my mission they are safe. All the observers in my mission are safe. Some of them are at their team sites, some of them are in other places but all of them are safe. I have spoken to all of them," Mood stated to media.
    The comments came after Ahmad Fawzi, spokesman for international mediator Kofi Annan, said in a message published on Twitter that U.N. vehicles had been damaged by a bomb in Syria. Fawzi said a convoy of four U.N. vehicles was hit by an improvised explosive device in Syria on Tuesday and three were damaged. The explosion happened in Khan Sheikoun, near Hama, Fawzi wrote. He did not give any further details or mention casualties.
    The seven-strong team, part of a U.N. monitoring mission overseeing a ceasefire agreement in Syria, was visiting the rebel stronghold at midday (0900 GMT) when violence broke out at a funeral.
    Addounya television blamed the violence on gunmen who, it said, then kidnapped the observers.
    The United Nations office in Damascus declined at first to comment on the incident, but one of the observers in Khan Sheikoun said none of the team members were hurt and said they were with Free Syrian Army rebels.
    Internet footage, which activists said was filmed in Khan Sheikoun on Tuesday, showed a white car of the type used by U.N. monitors with damage to its front which could have been caused by a blast or a collision.
    It was not immediately clear why they were still in Khan Sheikoun, several hours after the violence, when the United Nations has teams in the nearby cities of Hama and Idlib.
    Another FSA rebel said the observers had been moved to a safer place in the town and were being served food.
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