Kofi Annan deadline, Syria on ceasefire

Kofi Annan says he has been informed by Syria on ceasefire.  The international envoy said that Syria has told him it will "cease all military fighting throughout Syrian territory" as of 6 a.m. Damascus time on Thursday. The Syrian defence ministry said Wednesday that it will cease military operations against rebel fighters from Thursday, the day set by peace envoy Kofi Annan as a deadline to halt hostilities, state television reported. Annan's spokesman Ahmad Fawzi said in a statement Wednesday that the letter from Syria s foreign minister said the government reserves "the right to respond proportionately to any attacks carried out by armed terrorist groups against civilians, government forces or public and private property."  Fawzi said Annan will continue to work with the Syrian government on implementation of his six-point plan to end the more than yearlong conflict in which more than 9,000 people have been killed, according to the U.N. The official said the armed forces would “remain on standby to retaliate against any attack by the armed terrorist groups against civilians, the security services, armed forces, or private or public property.” Annan, who drafted a deal to end 13 months of bloodshed, said in Geneva on Wednesday that he had received a written pledge from the Syrian government to stop fighting at dawn on Thursday.