- BEIRUT: Syrian rebels will respect a deadline to cease fire on April 10 in line with a UN-backed peace plan to end a year of bloodshed, even if the government does not pull back its forces from cities, a spokesman said on Sunday.
“We will commit to the deadline even if they do not pull back (the forces), we will cease fire as we have pledged to the UN,” said Col. Qassem Saad Al-Deen, spokesman of the joint command of the Free Syrian Army inside Syria.
“But if they (Syrian forces) fire we will pick up arms again and fight them,” he told Reuters from inside Syria.
He also said that at least 1,000 people were killed during last week’s violence in the country, most of them civilians.
