Sarkozy doesn’t believe Syria’s Assad is sincere

PanARMENIAN.Net - French President Nicolas Sarkozy said on Friday, April 13 that he doesn’t believe Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's declaration of a ceasefire was sincere and that international observers should be deployed to monitor the situation in the country, Reuters reported.

"I do not believe Bashar al-Assad is sincere," Sarkozy said. "Sadly I do not believe this ceasefire."

Meanwhile, according to AFP, Syria's opposition has called for major protests on Friday, in what would be the first real test of the shaky ceasefire.

The hard-won ceasefire appeared to be holding for a second day, after world powers called for swift action to send in UN observers to monitor the fragile truce.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported skirmishes broke out Friday between the army and rebel fighters at Khirbet al-Joz, on the northern border with Turkey, after the military deployed troops and tanks to the area.

Violence on Thursday killed at least eight people, including seven civilians, and wounded dozens more, said the Observatory, a Britain-based monitoring group.