Syria crisis: Can UN mission succeed? by Jim Muir

Will the new acronym UNSMIS - the UN Supervision Mission in Syria - pass into the Middle East's lexicon and take up its place alongside those of other deployments, such as UNTSO and Unifil, which have for decades been helping keep some of the region's potential flashpoints from exploding?

Or will the mission collapse and withdraw in disarray, unable to carry out its task of monitoring compliance with an already highly compromised ceasefire, and with chief envoy Kofi Annan's six-point plan for stabilising the country and fostering dialogue on its future?

The Americans and others are clearly sceptical, and have already warned that their support for a renewal of the mission, when its initial mandate expires in three months' time, should not be taken for granted.

For more: BBC News - Syria crisis: Can UN mission succeed?

Syria: Finland gives positive response to UN request to take part with military observers in Syria.

The task of the advance group of about 30 observers is to monitor the cease fire between the forces of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and anti-government rebels. If the cease fire holds, the UN plans to send a further 250 observers to Syria.

The task force is to be compiled from UN missions already operating in the Middle East. One of the key groups is UNTSO, which is monitoring a cease fire between Israel and the Arab countries.

The commander of UNTSO is a Finn, Juha Kilpiä. Another 14 Finns currently serve in UNTSO monitoring tasks in Israel, Lebanon, and Syria.

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