Activists: UN observer mission must stop the killing in Syria – or leave
A Syrian man carries a wounded girl next to Red Crescent ambulances following an explosion that targeted a military bus near Qudssaya, a neighborhood of the Syrian capital, on June 8, 2012. At least seven people were killed in blasts near Damascus and in Idlib city in Syria’s restive northwest, among them four security forces members, a watchdog said.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said United Nations observers should leave Syria if they are unable to stop the violence in the country, Agence France Presse reported.
The British-based watchdog said the international observers had simply become witnesses to murder in Syria, following an escalation in violence.
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"We call on the international observers to work for the immediate implementation of the Kofi Annan plan and ceasefire in order to stop the killings in Syria – or to return to their home countries," the Observatory said.
The comments come as the UN observer force blamed both sides in the conflict for hampering its peace mission in Syria, the Associated Press reported.
Speaking in the capital, Damascus, the mission’s Chief Military Observer, Major General Robert Mood, said a spike in violence over the past 10 days had limited the UN's ability to verify reports, and do its job.
He accused both the Syrian military and rebel forces of willingly participating in the violence.
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Meanwhile, reports coming in overnight Friday said seven people died in Damascus as Syrian troops shelled a rebel area of the city’s north.
Activists said that earlier, at least 36 people were killed in violence Friday, including four demonstrators in the northern city of Aleppo, AFP reported.
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