Syrian Protesters Test Fragile Truce; 5 Killed [View all]

[Comrade Grumpy]

Source: Associated Press

BEIRUT (AP) – A Syria cease-fire was largely holding Friday as tens of thousands of protesters poured into the streets in the first major test of the U.N.-brokered truce. Activists said regime forces fired live bullets and tear gas in some locations, killing at least five people, but stood back in other areas where demonstrators beat drums and chanted anti-regime slogans.

President Bashar Assad's forces halted the large-scale shelling attacks on opposition strongholds that have pushed the country toward civil war over the past 13 months. But security forces backed by tanks, snipers and plainclothes agents maintained an intimidating presence in the streets and scattered violence was reported.

The U.N.-Arab league envoy, Kofi Annan, hoped to dispatch an advance team of up to 30 observers to Syria as quickly as possible to start monitoring the truce, and the U.N. Security Council was to vote on his request later Friday. If the relative calm holds, a beefed-up mission of up to 250 members was to follow quickly.

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The truce, which formally took effect Thursday, is at the center of Annan's six-point plan to stop the bloodshed and launch talks on Syria's political future. The uprising began in March 2011 with peaceful protests but became increasingly militarized in response to a brutal crackdown by the regime. The fighting has killed an estimated 9,000 people.

Read more: http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/story/2012-04-13/syria-clashes/54243490/1?csp=34news