Syria bars diplomats, gunships in action

Syria's government banned 17 Western diplomats and its helicopter gunships pounded rebels in a coastal province on Tuesday as President Bashar al-Assad defied international pressure to halt his campaign to crush the uprising against his rule.
The declaration that ambassadors from the United States, Canada, Turkey and several European countries were unwelcome was retaliation for the expulsion of Syrian envoys from their capitals last week, following the massacre of more than 100 civilians by suspected Assad loyalists.
On the battlefront, rebels fought with government forces backed by helicopter gunships in the heaviest clashes in coastal Latakia province since the revolt against Assad's rule broke out 15 months ago. The clashes in Latakia province were a rare surge of violence in a province outside Syria's usual trail of bloodshed. Latakia province is home to several towns inhabited by members of the minority Alawite sect, a Shia offshoot to which Assad himself belongs and which has been wary of the mostly Sunni-led uprising.
The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the fighting was in mostly Sunni areas in and around the city of Haffeh. It was the second day of combat since the rebels declared they would no longer abide by an internationally brokered cease-fire, saying that the government had continued the repression in defiance of United Nations peace observers.
Rebel fighters said nine of their comrades were killed, while the Observatory said two civilians and 22 soldiers were killed. Activists also reported heavy fire by government forces on the city of Homs, a focal point of the uprising that endured a bloody siege for weeks earlier this year.
The latest developments emphasised the precarious state of a peace plan brokered by Nobel Peace laureate Kofi Annan, who has shuttled between Damascus and other capitals on behalf of the United Nations and Arab League. Foreign governments are still clinging to the plan as the only option for finding a political solution and preventing a wider and bloodier conflict. But with the failure of the cease-fire and Assad's intransigence, it is all but in tatters.
In Jeddah, Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal said Gulf Arab states had begun to lose hope that the peace plan would find a solution. The comments are significant as Sunni-ruled Gulf countries have led international efforts to oust Assad, who is allied to their main rival Shia Iran, and have hinted in the past they were willing to arm the rebels.