Mood: Observers Committed to Stay in Syria

The head of the UN observer mission in Syria said inspectors were committed to stay in the country although they have come under fire multiple times recently.

Maj. Gen. Robert Mood said after a private briefing of the Security Council that questions about canceling the mission were premature and noted, “We are not going anywhere.”
The U.N. said Saturday its 300 observers based in Syria were suspending all missions because of concerns for their safety after fighting intensified over the previous 10 days.

“Shelling, small arms fire and other incidents are coming much closer, and we have been targets several times over the last few weeks,” Mood said according to Associated Press.

“The suffering of the Syrian people, the suffering of men, women and children, some of them trapped by fighting, is getting worse,” Mood told reporters, after briefing the U.N. Security Council during a closed meeting on the situation in Syria.

Reviving the mission would require a reduction in violence and a commitment from both the Syrian government and the opposition to “freedom of movement” for the U.N. observers, Mood said.

While the Syrian government had given him such assurances in the last few days, Mood said he has not “seen the same clear statement from the opposition yet.”