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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| U.N. Syria Mission Head Says Observers 'Calming' Situation |
| 2012-05-03 |
| The head of the U.N. mission to Syria said Wednesday his observers were having a "calming effect" on the ground but admitted the ceasefire was "shaky" and not holding. Has the "calming effect" dropped the corpse count? If not, it's not "calming." Speaking in Damascus ...Capital of the last overtly fascist regime in the world... to Britannia's Sky News, in his first television interview in the role, Major General Robert Mood brushed off criticism that the United Nations ...the Oyster Bay money pit... Supervision Mission in Syria (UNSMIS) had been too slow to get going. The Norwegian said their numbers of boots on the ground would double in the coming days. "This is not easy and we are seeing -- by the action, by kabooms, by firing -- that the ceasefire is really a shaky one. It's not holding," the 53-year-old said. "But what we are also seeing on the ground is that where we have observers present, they have a calming effect and we're also seeing that those operating on the ground, they take advice from our observers." Syria's army on Wednesday reportedly suffered its deadliest day in a ceasefire when rebel fighters killed 20 troops, in the latest violation of the three-week truce the U.N. says both sides are flouting. Mood said his team in Damascus would rise from 52 to 59 by the end of Wednesday and they aimed to double the figure in the coming days as more flights come in carrying troops, vehicles and equipment. "I fully understand the concerns about the speed of deployment," he said. "The people and equipment now on the ground is actually exactly how we want to see it, so the next couple of days -- picking up the pace, doubling, and spreading out -- is exactly what suits us very well," he said. "From the member states and from the secretariat in New York, this is actually an admirable effort to get people on the ground." |
| Posted by:Fred |