Syrian artillery hit parts of Homs city and at least five people were killed in clashes around the country on Friday, opposition activists said, as peace envoy Kofi Annan urged President Bashar al-Assad to order his troops stop shooting first, according to Reuters. "The deadline is now," Annan's spokesman Ahmad Fawzi said in Geneva. "We expect him to implement this plan immediately." Removing any ambiguity about the ceasefire terms of a six-point peace plan that Assad has said he accepts, Fawzi said it was up to the Syrian military to move first and show good faith by withdrawing tanks, big guns and troops from cities. The plan also requires lightly-armed militants to stop shooting. But the Free Syrian Army (FSA) has not said whether it accepts Annan's proposals and political opposition groups have not explicitly endorsed his call for a dialogue with Assad. The Annan plan "specifically asks the government to withdraw its troops, to cease using heavy weapons in populated centres", Fawzi said. "The very clear implication here is that the government must stop first and then discuss a cessation of hostilities with the other side and with the mediator." An activist calling himself Abu Mohammed said Annan, who is acting on behalf of the United Nations and Arab League, would "need to explain to the FSA what they want and what the conditions are and it will depend on the situation at the time". "Let's not get ahead of ourselves. First we want to see that the bloodbath ends," he said. If the U.N. plan is adopted and peace monitors are deployed, the opposition could protest peacefully and openly, he said. "But it's not going to happen."
