The Free Syrian Army has given the Damascus regime until noon (0900 GMT) Friday to comply with international envoy Kofi Annan’s peace plan to end violence in Syria, warning they themselves will quit the truce unless the ultimatum is met.

“If the Syrian regime does not meet the deadline by Friday midday, the command of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) announces that it will no longer be tied by any commitment to the Annan plan ... and our duty will be ... to defend civilians,” a FSA statement said.

The ultimatum comes as the death toll from assaults by President Bashar al-Assad’s forces on protest hubs spirals and after the U.N. reported two massacres of civilians in the past week, leaving an April 12 truce negotiated by U.N.-Arab League peace envoy Annan in tatters.

The FSA singled out in particular a May 25-26 massacre near the central town of Houla in which more than 100 people died, including 49 children and 34 women.

Meanwhile, Senior U.S. senators John McCain and Joe Lieberman said Thursday it was time to arm Syria’s opposition as they expressed disgust over a massacre last week blamed on government forces.

“It’s time to act. It’s time to give the Syrian opposition the weapons in order to defend themselves. It’s not a fair fight,” the Republican McCain told reporters in the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur.

McCain is in Muslim-majority Malaysia along with Lieberman, an independent, for a brief visit that included a meeting with Prime Minister Najib Razak on Wednesday and other officials.

During their talks, the pair expressed their “repugnance and anger and disgust at the behavior of (Syrian President) Bashar al-Assad and the recent massacre of innocent women and children”, McCain said.

The FSA, meanwhile, demanded that the regime adhere to all six points of the Annan plan: an immediate ceasefire; an end to all forms of violence; tanks and armored vehicles out of civilian areas; humanitarian access to all regions; the freeing of political prisoners and protesters; and access by the media to all parts of the country.

The FSA also demanded a commitment by Assad’s regime not to attack the UN observer mission overseeing the truce, “and the opening of serious negotiations through the United Nations to deliver power to the people.”

More than 13,000 people have been killed, mostly civilians, since an uprising erupted against Assad’s regime in March 2011, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

U.N.-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan left Damascus this week with no apparent concessions from the Syrian leader.




Reuters