Richard Spencer: UN Warns of Failing Ceasefire in Syria!

Western leaders issued the threat of international intervention to set up "humanitarian corridors" in Syria after the UN warned that President Bashar al-Assad's regime was failing to honor the terms of a ceasefire. As foreign ministers gathered in Paris to discuss the crisis, Nicolas Sarkozy, the French president, compared the situation in Syria to that of Libya before the fall of Colonel Muammar Ghaddafi, and said the time had come to set up safe corridors for the provision of aid to allow refugees to escape the fighting. The Pentagon also warned for the first time that "all options" were on the table to resolve the conflict, following a dire assessment from Ban Ki-moon, the United Nations secretary-general. In a briefing to the Security Council ahead of last night't Paris summit, Mr Ban said the situation on the ground in Syria was "highly precarious" and that attacks were on the rise, including the "shelling of civilian areas". He warned of "grave abuses by government forces" and demanded the regime immediately pull its heavy military equipment out of cities in accordance with Kofi Annan's six-point peace plan. Speaking as the meeting opened, Alain Juppe, the French foreign minister, said the failure of the Annan plan would lead to "civil war". He said "several hundred" international monitors were needed in Syria to police the ceasefire. The UN was on Thursday said to have agreed to a preliminary deal with Damascus for the deployment of more peace monitors, however it was unclear what access or support they would be given. The UN is believed to want at least 300 on the ground.