Veteran peacekeeper takes helm of UN mission in Syria

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A veteran Norwegian peacekeeper, Maj. Gen. Robert Mood, has been appointed as the head of the United Nations mission in Syria, AFP reported Saturday (April 28th).

Mood, who headed the UN Truce Supervision Organisation -- which monitors Middle East truces -- from 2009 to 2011, was already en route to Damascus when UN Secretary-General Ban ki-Moon announced his appointment late on Friday.

Mood knows Damascus well and was there to negotiate conditions for the advance team of UN monitors.

Meanwhile, Syrian government forces killed at least 10 opposition fighters on Saturday in clashes in the Damascus region, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported.

Separately, Syria's official news agency SANA reported three soldiers and two "terrorists" were killed in Aleppo in clashes between troops and "armed terrorist groups".

Also on Saturday, Lebanon said it intercepted three containers of weapons destined for Syria on a ship originating in Libya. The weapons included heavy machine guns, artillery shells, rockets, rocket launchers and other explosives.

SANA also reported that gunmen in inflatable boats attacked a military unit near Syria's northern port of Latakia. In the fire-fight that resulted, several gunmen and soldiers were killed, SANA said.

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    بسيم عبد الحافظ

    2012-4-30

    Those raids by the criminal system using mortar fire falling day and night and at all times on these innocent people and their homes and that cause the demolition of buildings over the heads of their inhabitants led to the deaths of hundreds per day and in front of the world without any reaction from them, despite the existence of Arab observers and the threat of the Arab League to go to the Security Council unless it is committed to the Syrian Arab initiative for bloodshed in Syria. In only one month of 2012, there were 1156 martyrs of which 67 were children, 60 women and 99 dissident soldiers, 18 elderly and 65 under torture. In addition, the Syrian citizens who continue to hold out with the utmost strength, determination and insistence are about to win and are no longer being killed by the Syrian security services that do not stop from committing massacres in violation of the norms and international covenants on human rights, which are now unable to withstand the will of this heroic nation, but have been killing with strong support provided by some members of the international community led by China and Russia who used the right of veto against the Arab decision in the Security Council and stood like a wall against attempts by Arab states seeking to bring about peaceful change in Syria and stopping the bloodshed there, which dictates that the Arab people must move ahead with the innocent people and stand by their side against the aggressive regime of Bashar.