Update: U.N. Unanimously Approves Sending Observers to Syria as Truce Frays
Update 11:28 a.m.: The U.N. Security Council unanimously approved a measure that would send 30 unarmed military personnel to monitor the truce. However, violence on Saturday -- Reuters reports that at least six have been killed, while the Associated Press reports the death toll at nine -- suggests that the truce is unraveling.
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The U.N. is moving to try and calm the tensions between the Syrian government and opposition forces Saturday morning after the U.N.'s cease fire was broken on Friday. The U.N. will vote Saturday morning to deploy a team of monitors to Syria to try and diffuse the situation and resume the cease fire, the BBC reports.
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The news of the violence on Friday effectively ended a cease fire set up by Kofi Annan that saw the two sides play nice for three days, until yesterday when the military reportedly started shelling the city of Homs after protesters marched in the streets after prayer service. State TV claimed the violence came from terrorist cells, a line they've used before.
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The most worrisome news of all is that the Syrian military was looking to add more muscle when the rest of the world wants them to stop fighting. From The Guardian's report comes the story from German newspaper Der Speigel that a German ship was stopped in the Mediterranean because it was believed to be carrying Iranian military weapons into Syria.
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The initial vote on Saturday will deploy a team of 30 monitors if passed, but the BBC says Kofi Annan is hoping to get 250 monitors in Syria. The biggest sticking point so far is Russia. They've impeded the U.N.'s efforts to end Bashar Al-Assad's violence before, and no one is sure if they'll do it again. They have faced increased pressure recently from other U.N. countries to fall in line.
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The U.N. will vote on the team of monitors at 11 a.m. on Saturday.
