The Syrian government has rejected UN-Arab-League envoy Kofi Annan's call for its troops to halt the violence first. It comes just days after the Syrian leadership agreed to accept a cease-fire plan proposed by Annan.

This is the government's first response to Annan's appeal to stop military operations first as "the stronger party" in a "gesture of good faith" to the lightly armed opposition.

A Syrian Foreign Ministry spokesman said the government will not pull tanks and troops from towns and cities engulfed by unrest before life returns to normal there. Annan brokered the ceasefire deal aimed at stopping the bloodshed in Syria and President Bashar al-Assad agreed to it on Monday.

On Saturday, however, civil rights activists reported fresh violence that killed more than twenty people. The U.N. estimates more than 9,000 people have been killed since the revolt against Assad began a year ago.