Good news. Syrian foreign minister "pledges commitment to Annan ceasefire plan"...

Syria's foreign minister says Damascus has begun withdrawing some of its troops from cities in line with a UN-backed peace plan to end a year of bloodshed in the country.

Walid al-Muallem, speaking on Tuesday after meeting his Russian counterpart in Moscow, said Syria wanted a say in the composition of an international team to observe implementation of a ceasefire in the country. “We have already withdrawn forces and army units from several Syrian provinces,'' Muallem said.

Brokered by Kofi Annan, the joint UN-Arab League envoy to Syria, the six-point peace plan required Syrian forces to pull back from protest centres by Tuesday.

For their part, Russia and China, who have twice shielded Syria from UN sanctions, called on the government of Bashar al-Assad as well as the opposition to work towards Annan’s proposed truce. Sergey Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, said Syria's government “could have been more active and decisive'' in implementing the peace plan”.

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2012/04/201241092145250519.html

Talk, as they say, is cheap but it is a positive sign that a leading Syrian official is committed to implementing the Annan peace plan.

OTOH, this is the same person who was the source of the quote "Syria declares it has defeated revolt" on March 31. A lot of shelling and death has occurred since that date. Let us hope that his statement today is more ironclad.