Russian warns against arming Syrian opposition

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has said Syria’s opposition will never defeat the country’s armed forces even if it is “armed to the teeth”.

Mr Lavrov warned that there would be “slaughter for many years” if Western and Arab states intervened militarily and supplied weapons to rebel groups. Gulf states agreed on Sunday to pay the salaries of Free Syrian Army fighters. Meanwhile, the US has warned the Syrian government not to intensify violence ahead of a ceasefire due on 10 April. Tanks are still shelling or storming towns and villages before going back to their bases… That does not mean they are withdrawing”. The US permanent representative to the UN, Susan Rice, said its actions since 1 April did not encourage hope that it would comply with the six-point peace plan proposed by UN and Arab League envoy Kofi Annan. Ms Rice said the US was “concerned and quite sceptical that the government of Syria will suddenly adhere to its commitments” and the UN would “need to respond to that failure in a very urgent and serious way”. The Syrian government has said it has agreed to the deadline, but activists accuse it of stalling for time so it can crush the uprising before UN monitors arrive and say attacks are continuing. On Tuesday, at least 58 civilians were killed, including 20 in military assaults and clashes between troops and rebels in Taftanaz, in the northern province of Idlib, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.