Asia

Home page

Asia

Syria understands UN observers’ suspension decision: foreign ministry

16 June 2012 19:00 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. The Syrian foreign ministry said it understands the decision of UN mission to suspend its activities due to escalation of violence, noting that the armed groups in Syria have ramped up assaults since the UN-led peace plan went into effect in April, APA reports quoting Xinhua.

In a statement carried by state-run SANA news agency, the ministry said that Maj-Gen Robert Mood, head of the UN Supervision Mission in Syria (UNSMIS), had informed the ministry of his intentions to mitigate the work of observers due to the growing violence.

Mood said that due to the escalation of violence in Syria, his mission is suspending its activities, adding that UN observers will not be conducting patrols and will stay in their locations until further notice.

"Engagement with the parties will be restricted," Mood said.

"This suspension will be reviewed on a daily basis," he said, adding that operations will resume when they see the situation gets better.

"Let me be very clear, UNSMIS is committed to the people of Syria," Mood said, stressing that they stand ready to work with all parties to assist in bringing an end to the violence and promote political dialogue.

In a statement issued on Saturday, Mood said there has been an intensification of armed violence across Syria over the past 10 days, adding that this escalation is "limiting our ability to observe, verify, report as well as assist in local dialogue and stability projects -- basically impeding our ability to carry out our mandate."

Meanwhile, the ministry stressed the country’s respect to the six-point peace plan brokered by UN-Arab League special envoy to Syria Kofi Annan.

The ministry accused armed groups in Syria of ignoring Annan’s plan, adding that some Arab and western countries are still rendering technical and arming support to the armed groups to carry on with their crimes to challenge the UN mandate.