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UN Approves 300 Observers Dispatch to Syria

21 April 2012 19:56 (UTC +04:00)

The observers will be in the country for an initial period of 90 days within the international community’s efforts to stop more than a year-long armed conflict that killed about 9000 people according to UN estimates.

Under the UN Security Council resolution approved on Saturday, a mission of military observers and civilian personnel will be sent to Syria in a matter of urgency depending on assessment of situation in Syria by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.

The resolution "becomes fundamental to resolve the conflict in Syria. Any extended interpretations and deviations from the resolution are inadmissible," Russia’s UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said.

A ceasefire, part of UN envoy Kofi Annanâ€™s peace plan, came into force in Syria on April 12, although there have been reports of numerous violations of the truce by both government and opposition forces.

Russia has twice vetoed UN Security Council resolutions on Syria over what it says is a pro-rebel bias, but gave its full backing to Annanâ€™s peace plan, which Damascus also supported.