Syria: A Message from Ambassador Ford
On April 5, the United Nations Security Council unanimously issued a Presidential Statement supporting the Joint Special Envoy of the United Nations and League of Arab States Kofi Annan’s six-point proposal. This proposal call for an immediate end to all violence and human rights violations, securing humanitarian access and facilitating a Syrian-led political transition leading to a democratic, plural political system, in which citizens are equal regardless of their affiliations, ethnicities or beliefs, including through commencing a comprehensive political dialogue between the Syrian government and the whole spectrum of the Syrian opposition. It also calls upon the Syrian government to remove its troops, including the Shabiha, and heavy weapons from their locations around cities no later than April 10, 2012. The Asad regime committed itself to this proposal on March 25, 2012.
The United States and the Friends of Syria are closely monitoring whether these required actions are occurring or not. We have seen media reports from the Asad regime that it has started to remove soldiers and equipment away from Syrian cities and civilian areas. We are providing some images to illustrate our conclusions at this point.
According to media reports and Syrian activists, on April 5 and April 6 Syrian forces used artillery against residential areas in Zabadani and Homs and Aazaz in Idlib (graphics 7 and 8), and there were arrest sweeps in other locations, including suburbs of Damascus. And we understand there has been a big increase in the numbers of Syrians seeking refuge in Turkey because of military operations in their neighborhoods. This is not the reduction in offensive Syrian government security operations that all agree must be the first step for the Annan initiative to succeed.
International journalists are unable to legally enter the country to independently verify such reports. If the Asad regime is keeping its promises based on the Annan proposal, it should allow international journalists to freely enter the country to verify. In their absence, U.S. and other governments have other means, including the satellites that took these images, of verifying the regime's compliance or lack thereof. The regime and the Syrian people should know that we are watching. The regime cannot hide the truth. We strongly urge the Asad regime to allow the UN compliance team, an effective and independent means of verification, to have full and unfettered access throughout Syria to investigate the regime’s compliance.
https://www.facebook.com/notes/us-embassy-damascus/a-message-from-ambassador-ford/10150655544736938%20#SYRIA
Graphic 4
In the case of Taftanaz (graphic 3), the Syrian government simply moved some armored vehicles out of Taftanaz to the nearby town of Zirdana (graphic 4).
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