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U.N. Monitors Fail To Halt Violence In Syria
The U.N.-brokered cease-fire in Syria keeps unraveling. Syrian government troops were supposed to pull their tanks and soldiers out of cities and towns, while rebels were supposed to lay down their arms.
Yet hundreds of people have died in recent days, according to activists. And in some areas, visits by U.N. observers have been followed by intense violence.
Only about a dozen U.N. observers have reached Syria. Wearing their signature U.N.-blue berets or helmets, their goal is to see whether government troops and rebels are sticking to the cease-fire, which went into effect April 12.
In some places, like the flashpoint city of Homs, the mere presence of monitors does seem to be stemming the violence.
Fighting In Hama
But in other locations, like the central city of Hama, it’s not so simple.
Videos taken by Hama residents and posted on the Internet show people holding olive branches, crowding around the U.N. monitors’ vans, begging for help with detained relatives or destroyed homes.
“Bashar al-Assad kills us,” one man says, referring to the Syrian president. “We want freedom.”
After the monitors left, the protests continued. Activists say snipers posted on rooftops opened fire — a fairly common occurrence these days in Syria. To go out and protest is to risk being injured or killed.
Pictured: Members of the Syrian opposition walk with a U.N. observer during a visit by monitors to the restive city of Homs, Syria, on April 21. Opposition activists say observers appear to help bring calm if they stay in an area. Two monitors have been deployed in Homs for the past several days.
