Kofi Annan: Syria will halt fire

Dubai UN-Arab League peace envoy Kofi Annan has said he has a written guarantee from the Syrian government to stop fighting at dawn Thursday.

"After our armed forces completed successful operations in combating the criminal acts of the armed terrorist groups and enforced the state's rule over its territory, it has been decided to stop these operations from Thursday morning," Syrian state television quoted a ministry official it did not identify as saying.

However, Wednesday Syrian troops pummelled opposition neighbourhoods in the city of Homs with heavy mortars.

"Annan, this is your ceasefire," ran the sarcastic voiceover on an activist video that showed a shopping mall engulfed in flames after it was hit in bombardment of the Juret Al Shayah quarter.

The Syrian army also moved tanks into the centre of the city of Hama yesterday and also began shelling the town of Rastan, activists in Hama and Rastan said.

Western powers have scorned President Bashar Al Assad's truce pledges to the United Nations-Arab League mediator, but so far lack an effective policy to curb the bloodshed, given their own aversion to military intervention and the resistance of Russia and China to any UN Security Council action.

"Far from fulfilling their commitment, the regime has cynically exploited the window of diplomatic negotiations to crack down even harder on its own people," British Prime Minister David Cameron said during a visit to Indonesia.

An estimated 1,000 people had been killed in the past week, Cameron said.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov yesterday to seek a policy change from one of Al Assad's few foreign friends.

Annan's plan, endorsed by the UN Security Council, is for now the only game in town and the former UN secretary-general said it must be given a chance to work.

At a news conference with Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi, Annan urged Syria's strongest ally to help resolve the violence and warned of "unimaginable consequences" if it worsened further.

Turkey threat

Meanwhile, a furious Turkey stepped up threats against Syria after escalating tensions on their common border.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has implicitly warned that Turkey may use force to set up a safe haven for refugees within Syrian territory if Al Assad forces Turkey to take such a step.

"Don't push us too far," Erdogan was quoted as saying by the Turkish press yesterday while on an official visit to China.

Saudi King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz and Erdogan are to hold talks on the Syrian crisis tomorrow.

According to Turkey's Hurriyet newspaper, Erdogan will request King Abdullah to see to it that Arab countries take the lead in coordinated international measures against the Syrian government.