The new head of the UN ceasefire monitoring mission Major General Robert Mood has arrived in the Syrian capital of Damascus today, and urged both Assad regime forces and rebels to stop attacking one another.
Rebels claimed at least 25 people were killed nationwide today, far from a complete ceasefire but still a meaningful reduction from the level at the height of the civil war. The UN is expected to deploy up to 300 monitors in the coming weeks.
Whether that actually happens or not is not clear, however, as Kofi Annan is due to deliver a “state of the ceasefire” report on May 5, after which French officials anticipate pushing for a full scale UN invasion of Syria.
Not that the call for invasion is likely to go anywhere, as both Russia and China would presumably veto such a bill. The question is what comes after this veto, and whether it will mean the West will turn against the monitoring mission if it can’t sell a war.
