Syria ceasefire imperiled as government vows crackdown

(Reuters) - Syria's ceasefire increasingly was under threat on Sunday as the government vowed a crackdown on a wave of "terrorist attacks" and its forces shelled Homs on the day the first U.N. peace monitors were due to enter the country.

An initial team of U.N. ceasefire monitors was expected to arrive on Sunday evening and will be deployed on Monday in an effort to keep the peace plan on track, the spokesman for international mediator Kofi Annan said.

They will be joined by two dozen more observers in coming days in line with a U.N. Security Council resolution adopted on Saturday authorizing the deployment of up to 30, Ahmad Fawzi said.

"Of course we are hoping that the process holds together until the observers get on the ground," Fawzi told Reuters in Geneva. Read More