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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Syria quiet after deadline passes

Bassem Mroue Associated Press

BEIRUT – Opposition activists said Syria’s uprising hotspots were quiet after a deadline for a U.N.-brokered truce passed at dawn today, hours after President Bashar Assad’s regime promised special peace envoy Kofi Annan it would halt fighting.

It was the first brief lull after weeks of escalating attacks on opposition strongholds.

Still, expectations were low for an abrupt end to the bloodshed that has roiled Syria for 13 months and claimed more than 9,000 lives. Syria has backtracked on previous peace plans, has characterized the uprising it’s facing as a terrorist plot and has escalated the shelling of rebellious areas in recent weeks.

The regime also set an important truce condition when it announced Wednesday it would halt the fighting – saying it still has a right to defend itself against the terrorists that it says are behind the country’s uprising.

Under Annan’s plan, the cease-fire is to be followed by the deployment of an observer mission and negotiations between Assad’s government and the opposition on a political transition.

Opposition activists said the 6 a.m. truce deadline passed without reports of major violence.