A spokesman for Kofi Annan says Syria told the U.N.-Arab League envoy that it has begun withdrawing troops from three areas as part of a cease-fire plan it agreed to implement by April 10.
The plan calls for all other parties to halt violence within 48 hours of the deadline, and spokesman Ahmad Fawzi told reporters in Geneva Thursday that Annan expects a "complete cessation of violence" by that time.
He also said U.N. member states are being asked to contribute troops for a monitoring mission that would oversee the cease-fire - a move that requires a U.N. Security Council resolution.
A U.N. peacekeeping team is heading to Syria to discuss the potential monitoring mission.
Meanwhile, rights activists reported shelling and heavy gunfire Thursday in the Damascus suburb of Douma and additional fighting in northern Aleppo province near the Turkish border.
Turkey's disaster management agency said Thursday more than 1,600 Syrians fled into Turkey in the past two days.
Security Council members are weighing a presidential statement that "expresses its grave concern" that Syria has not yet implemented the cease-fire deal.
In a draft obtained by VOA, the Security Council also demands that President Bashar al-Assad's government "immediately and verifiably" stop the use of heavy weapons and pull military forces back from population centers.
U.N. diplomats say the statement could be adopted Thursday. Annan is scheduled to brief the U.N. General Assembly Thursday on the status of his mediation efforts, and his spokesman said he will travel to Syrian ally Iran for talks on April 11.
The United Nations says more than 9,000 people have been killed in Syria since the uprising against Assad began a year ago.
Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.
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