Syria says it will comply with cease-fire

BEIRUT -- Syria promised to comply with a UN-brokered cease-fire starting yesterday but carved out an important condition: that the regime has a right to defend itself against terrorists it says are behind the year-old uprising.

The statement yesterday offered a glimmer of hope that a peace initiative by special envoy Kofi Annan could help calm the conflict, which has killed 9,000 people. But the regime still has ample room to maneuver.

Comments carried on the state-run news agency say the army has successfully fought off "armed terrorist groups" and reasserted state authority across the country.

"A decision has been taken to stop these missions as of the morning of Thursday, April 12, 2012," the statement said, adding: "Our armed forces are ready to repulse any aggression carried out by the armed terrorist groups against civilians or troops."

The government denies it is facing an uprising by citizens who want to dislodge the authoritarian family dynasty that has ruled for more than four decades.

Because the regime has treated any sign of dissent as a provocation, there are only dim hopes for an abrupt end to the bloodshed.

The White House cautioned that President Bashar Assad's regime has reneged on promises to stop the violence in the past.