UN plans to send observer force to Syria

The U.N. Security Council moved quickly on Thursday in an effort to honor a request from international Syria mediator Kofi Annan to authorize the deployment of a U.N. truce-monitoring force to prevent a fragile ceasefire from collapsing.Diplomats on the 15-nation council met behind closed doors to discuss a U.S.-drafted resolution to authorize an initial deployment of up to 30 unarmed observers to Syria. They produced a revised draft, obtained by Reuters, that highlighted language Russia disliked, envoys said.Council envoys said they would meet again on the draft at 11:00 a.m. EDT (1500 GMT) on Friday in the hope of reaching an agreement on a text they could vote on before end of the day.A fragile U.N.-backed ceasefire aimed at halting more than a year of bloodshed in Syria appeared to be holding but there were no signs that President Bashar al-Assad was pulling his forces out of restive cities.Annan, the joint U.N.-Arab League envoy, told the council earlier Syria has not fully complied with his six-point peace plan and called for the swift deployment of a U.N. observer force to the country, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice said.