AL ARABIYA , 20 April 2012 –  The week-old ceasefire is “very fragile” and the situation on the ground is “not good,” with violence and casualties reported every day, mediator Kofi Annan’s spokesman said on Friday, adding that a full advance team of 30 ceasefire monitors should be deployed in Syria in the coming week and preparations are under way for up to 300 observers.

“We have seven observers on the ground today, two more are arriving on Monday, to bring those on ground to nine,” spokesman Ahmad Fawzi said told a news briefing in Geneva.
Russia’s U.N. envoy Vitaly Churkin said the Security Council can “act very quickly” to pass a resolution allowing the bolstering of the observer mission, and diplomats said one could be ready early next week.

Russia said the ceasefire, however, was generally holding despite some violations and should be seen as an achievement that was saving the country from a broader civil war.

“Despite the existing violations and provocations, the ceasefire is holding overall. This is a great achievement whose loss could lead to a dangerous retreat to a new wave of violence,” the Russian foreign ministry said in a statement.

Russia’s comments came one day after U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called on the U.N. Security Council to brand Syrian President Bashar al-Assad a threat to peace and authorize tough new international measures.

The Russian foreign ministry said Syria was currently facing a choice of either “moving toward a peaceful national dialogue or retreating to civil war.”

“And every participant of the domestic conflict must make their choice,” Russia said in comments directed at both Assad and the armed opposition.

In France, Foreign Minister Alain Juppe declared that the U.N. observer mission in Syria needs to be able to guarantee Syrians the freedom to protest against Bashar al-Assad’s regime.

“We need observers on the ground, but properly equipped observers with helicopters that can ensure the right to protest. It’s extremely important. The day this freedom is guaranteed, the regime will not stand,” he said.

Juppe was speaking to BFM-TV a day after hosting talks in Paris between 15 foreign ministers and senior envoys from countries opposed to Assad’s regime, and his remarks appeared to go further than the U.N. mission’s mandate.

The observer team, which will be unarmed but which some have called “a force, “was set up to oversee the implementation of U.N. envoy Kofi Annan’s peace plan, which foresees a ceasefire and talks, not to overthrow Assad.

“We must give the Annan plan every chance,” Juppe said.

“The ceasefire is not being respected but if we manage to deploy on the ground a robust observer force, 500 people for example, then things might swing in the right direction,” he continued.