Russia denounces ‘terror’ by Syria rebels

Russia accused the Syrian rebels on Thursday of waging a wide-scale terror campaign that is designed to kill as many civilians as possible despite a formal ceasefire.

“Opposition groups have essentially reverted to waging wide-scale terror in the region,” said foreign ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich.

The spokesman extended Russia’s call for President Bashar al-Assad’s army to “fully implement the obligations it assumed in accordance with the Kofi Annan plan” for Syria that has looked in increasing peril as violence rages on the ground.

But the spokesman laid most of Russia’s criticism on opposition forces he said were reverting to tactics that pointed to the involvement of the Al-Qaeda global terror network.

“There is another side in Syria,” said Lukashevich. “Opposition groups have essentially reverted to waging wide-scale terror in the region.”

Attacks aimed at “killing as many peaceful civilians as possible and destroying civilian infrastructure remind one of what is happening in Iraq, Jordan and other places where Al-Qaeda and its groups operate,” he said.

The spokesman’s comments came as Syria’s main opposition group called for an emergency UN Security Council meeting to address reports that regime forces had killed more than 100 people in the central Syrian city of Hama in recent days.