BEIRUT - Syrian activists reported military attacks and arrest raids in towns across Syria on Tuesday and denied claims by the foreign minister that regime forces have begun pulling out of some areas in compliance with a UN-brokered truce. French Foreign Ministry spokesman Bernard Valero dismissed Syria's claims of a withdrawal as "a new expression of this flagrant and unacceptable lie" and British Foreign Secretary William Hague accused Damascus of using the cease-fire deadline "as a cover for intensified military efforts to crush Syria's opposition." Even close ally Russia seemed critical of President Bashar Assad's regime. "We believe that their efforts to implement the plan could have been more active and resolute," said Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. Activists said they have seen no signs of the large-scale troop pullback that Assad committed to under the cease-fire brokered by U.N.-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan. Military forces were supposed to withdraw from towns and villages on Tuesday with both sides ceasing all hostilities by 6 a.m. Thursday. The truce is widely seen as the last chance for diplomacy, and its collapse could push Syria even closer to an all-out civil war. The opposition as well as the U.S. and its allies have been deeply skeptical that the regime would comply with the cease-fire because Assad has violated previous agreements and his forces escalated attacks on opposition strongholds in the weeks leading up to the deadline. At the same time, options for ending the fighting appear to be dwindling with the international community unwilling to intervene militarily. Annan has not commented on the apparent breakdown of his plan, and his spokesman, Ahmad Fawzi, would only say Tuesday that it's up to the UN Security Council to decide what to do next.
