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    March 20, 2012

UN Chief Says Situation in Syria Unacceptable

   VOA News

   United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon says the situation in
   Syria has become unacceptable and intolerable.
   Speaking to a group of peacekeepers in Indonesia Tuesday, Ban called on
   the Security Council to unite on Syria.
   The council meets Tuesday in New York to debate a French draft
   statement that calls for possible "further measures" if the Syrian
   government does not accept envoy Kofi Annan's peace plan.
   The Annan plan calls for a cease-fire and talks between Syrian rebels
   and the government.
   China and Russia have vetoed earlier Security Council proposals on
   Syria, saying they were interference in their internal affairs.
   But Russia said Monday the Syrian government and rebels must
   immediately observe daily humanitarian truces to let the Red Cross
   evacuate civilians and treat the wounded.
   The United Nations says at least 8,000 people have been killed in the
   Syrian government's violent crackdown on the opposition. The uprising
   against President Bashar al-Assad started one year ago as peaceful
   protests that became increasingly violent.
   Syrian rebels staged a rare incursion into an upscale area of Damascus,
   Monday, triggering a deadly exchange of gunfire with pro-Assad forces.
   The Syrian state news agency, SANA, says two rebels and a security
   force member were killed in the Mazzeh neighborhood, which is home to
   foreign embassies and government officials. It was the closest fighting
   to the center of Damascus since the rebellion started.
   SANA says the fighting began when security forces stormed a Mazzeh
   apartment used as a hideout by what it called an "armed terrorist"
   group. There was no independent confirmation of the casualties or how
   the Damascus fighting started.
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