UN to vote on Syria monitors as both sides allege ceasefire breaches

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/apr/14/un-vote-syria-monitors-ceasefire

Version 0 of 1.

The UN security council is set to vote on a resolution authorising the deployment of monitors to Syria to oversee the ceasefire as fighting between government forces and opposition groups continues.

Both sides in the conflict reported deaths and injuries on the third day of the UN-brokered ceasefire.

Opposition activists said government forces shelled the city of Homs on Saturday, injuring a number of civilians, while the state news agency Sana reported that six members of the security forces and civilians had been killed by "terrorist groups".

Around 30 military observers are ready to fly to Syria if the security council decides to send them. A draft text of the new UN resolution was finalised on Friday, which also threatens to consider "further steps" if Syria does not comply with the ceasefire.

Whether Russia, which has vetoed two previous resolutions, will support it remains uncertain.

Karm Abu Rabea, a resident of Homs, said on Saturday that he heard eight shells fall on the city in one hour. The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and other activists in Homs said shelling had wounded several people overnight.

The Local Coordination Committees activist group said there were 771 demonstrations throughout Syria on Friday, more than in previous weeks.

Activists said security forces killed at least six people on Friday, a lower-than-usual toll. Activist video purported to show mortars and tank shells hitting parts of Homs, especially the Qarabis quarter, after Friday prayers.

The rallies stretched from the suburbs of Damascus to the central province of Hama, Idlib in the north and the southern province of Daraa, where the uprising began in March 2011.

The Observatory said on Saturday that troops were conducting arrests in the Damascus suburb of Dumair when a car exploded killing one civilian and wounding two others. It gave no further details.

Sana reported a series of incidents across Syria on Friday including shootings, bombings and border incursions. No reports from either side can be verified independently.

Meanwhile, the German government is looking into a report that weapons bound for the Syrian regime were loaded onto a German-owned ship.

Der Spiegel reported on Saturday that the Atlantic Cruiser was halted in the Mediterranean after its owners were warned it was suspected of carrying Iranian military equipment to Tartus in Syria.

Der Spiegel quoted shipping agent Torsten Lueddeke of Hamburg-based CEG Bulk Chartering as saying: "We stopped the ship after we received information on the weapons cargo."

He said the ship was chartered to Ukraine-based White Whale Shipping, and they said the ship was carrying pumps and similar equipment.