BEIRUT — Syria's Foreign Ministry says the government will not withdraw its troops from cities without written guarantees from armed groups that they will also lay down their weapons.
Foreign Ministry spokesperson Jihad Makdessi says earlier statements that Damascus will pull its troops from cities and their suburbs by Tuesday "is a wrong explanation."
Makdessi said in a statement Sunday that international envoy Kofi Annan has not delivered to the Syrian government "written guarantees" from "armed terrorist groups" that they too will stop the violence.
Annan's office said last week that Syrian President Bashar Assad accepted a cease-fire agreement brokered by Annan calling for government forces to withdraw from towns and villages by Tuesday.
Activists say Syrian troops are assaulting and shelling restive regions in the north and center of the country despite an international cease-fire scheduled to go into effect within days.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says dozens of army vehicles are taking part in an attack east of the northwestern town of Jisr al-Shughour. It said explosions were heard in the area Sunday morning.
Tarek Badrakhan, who is an activist in the central city of Homs, said troops fired mortar rounds Sunday at the rebel-held neighborhood of Khaldiyeh.
Syrian President Bashar Assad last week accepted a cease-fire agreement brokered by international envoy Kofi Annan calling for government forces to withdraw from towns and villages by Tuesday.
