Syrian opposition appears impatient with UN mission amid simmering tension
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E-mail Xinhua, June 3, 2012
The Syrian opposition seems to have grown more frustrated with the mission of the UN observers that has so far done little to stem the simmering violence in Syria's 15-months crisis as clashes between the Syrian troops and the armed rebels are on the rise.
Earlier on Saturday, armed groups fired an RPG shell on a checkpoint of law-enforcement forces in the Syrian capital of Damascus' suburb of Arbeen, while UN observers and local journalists were trying to enter the restive suburb, witnesses told Xinhua.
Apparently, the armed rebels didn't want the observers to enter the area and therefore they fired an RPG shell, followed by gunshots, witnesses said.
On a video appeared on the internet on May. 25, members of the rebels Free Syrian Army (FSA) were seen at the northern area of Azaz in Aleppo, urging the UN observers touring the area to leave. One of the rebels was heard saying "thanks ... now please leave, Leave!"
Activists said that the visits of the UN observers to rebel- held areas help the leadership to locate the whereabouts of the rebels and activists, and later on raid the areas and round up those opponents.
On Thursday, Riad al-Asaad, leader of the FSA, urged the UN- Arab League joint special envoy to Syria Kofi Annan to formally announce the failure of the truce.
In central province of Homs, a focal point in Syria's unrest, clashes between rebels and government troops are reported on daily bases.
Burhan Ghalioun, leader of Syria's main opposition party in exile the Syrian National Council said Saturday he would welcome an Arab military action in order to end the alleged attacks by the government troops.
Ghalioun made the comments before a meeting of AL foreign ministers in the Qatari capital of Doha, in which the 22-league member called on the managements of the Arabsat and Nilesat satellites to ban the broadcast of Syria's official and private TVs.
The Arab ministers also called on Annan to set a timetable for the implementation of his plan.
The meeting came on the heels of the bloody massacre last week in the central village of Houla, which killed more than 100 people, almost half of them are children. The international community was quick to blame the Syrian army and pro-government militia men of being behind the killing.
Opposition activists also held the Syrian army and pro- government militia men, known locally as Shabiha, of being behind the slathering.
The Syrian government has categorically denied any involvement in the killing and accused the armed opposition of staging the bloody massacre in order to call foreign military intervention and condemnation. The government said the only beneficiary of the carnage was the opposition.
In the meantime, Syria slammed the AL decision to stop the broadcast of the Syrian TVs as "aggressive" and "an attempt to mute the voice of the Syrian people," state-run SANA news agency said in a riposte after the decision announcement.
Syria's ministry of information said the AL had become a tool and a ride for the U.S. aggression against Syria.
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