Roadside blast just misses UN monitors in Syria
A bomb blast on the road from Damascus injured ten soldiers providing escort for a delegation of U.N. observers and journalists, and seemed to be more evidence that last month’s brokered ceasefire is just not taking hold.
The U.N. delegation and the military escorts had just crossed a checkpoint when the bomb exploded, reports Voice of America. Major General Robert Mood, head of the U.N. monitoring mission, was in the group heading towards Dara’a, but neither he nor any of the other 11 observers has been reported as injured.
Major General Mood is quoted by his spokesman as saying the explosion was an example of what the Syrian people suffer on a daily basis.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon condemned the attack, according to the Associated Press. The U.S. State Department’s spokeswoman, Victoria Nuland, is saying that this roadside blast which hit troops escorting the U.N. monitors was “further evidence that the cease-fire is not holding.” Nuland is also saying that this bombing is “another example of why we have got to continue to put the pressure on the Assad regime.” She puts “the bulk of the responsibility” for the violence in the hands of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
According to Al Jazeera, Kofi Annan said that his peace plan is “probably the last chance to avoid civil war” in Syria. The ceasefire allegedly went into effect on April 12, but since then it has been violated by both sides of the conflict quite regularly. The report also has a new total of deaths since last year’s conflict began against the Syrian regime: 12,000. Of those killed the majority are civilians apparently.
