- Rebel: "We didn't start the mass murder. The regime ... has to stop killing, and then automatically we will stop"
- A Syrian official wants written assurance that armed rebels will lay down their arms first
- Opposition activists: 525 people die in the past week, since Syria signalled it supported a peace plan
- A Syrian official says it's a wrong interpretation that Syria committed to withdrawing troops
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(CNN) -- Hopes for a cease-fire in Syria this week have apparently fizzled, despite reports of an earlier promise by the Syrian government to withdraw its forces from cities by Tuesday.
The Syrian foreign ministry said Sunday that the regime will not commit to pulling forces only to have "armed terrorist groups" attack. Spokesman Jihad Makdissi said the government expects to get written guarantees that armed rebels will lay down their weapons.
The Syrian government has consistently blamed violence in the country on "armed terrorist groups." But U.N. and other world leaders have said the government is lethally cracking down on dissidents seeking true democracy and an ouster of President Bashar al-Assad, whose family has ruled Syria for 42 years.
Rebels, including defected soldiers from al-Assad's military, have taken up arms, but their strength has often paled in comparison to the better-equipped regime troops.
The government's demand for rebels to lay down their weapons first signaled another stalemate in the Syrian crisis.
"We can't drop our guns until the regime withdraws from the cities," Lt. Abdullah Odah of the rebel Free Syrian Army said from Istanbul. "We didn't start the mass murder. The regime started it. It has to stop killing, and then automatically we will stop."
Early last week, diplomatic officials said the Syrian government agreed to an April 10 deadline to withdraw troops from cities. The agreement came after Syria said it accepted a peace plan laid out by U.N.-Arab League special envoy Kofi Annan.
Annan has said he expects rebel fighters to also cease fire after the Tuesday deadline. His six-point peace plan for Syria includes calls for a halt in violence by both sides and a Syrian-led political process to end the crisis.
But opposition activists, as well as U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's office, have accused the Syrian regime of ramping up violence in days leading up to the withdrawal deadline.
"The Syrian authorities remain fully accountable for grave violations of human rights and international humanitarian law. These must stop at once," a spokesman for Ban said Friday. He said the deadline is "not an excuse for continued killing."
Makdissi, the foreign ministry spokesman, said Sunday that inferences that Syria has pledged to withdraw troops from cities by Tuesday is a wrong interpretation, the state-run Syrian Arab News Agency reported.
Critics of the government say it is just playing games and prolonging the crisis.
"This regime is trying, as usual, to create obstacles preventing (the application of) any real and effective solution on the ground to stop the bloodshed," said Abu Fares, the political representative of the opposition Homs Revolutionary Council. "... We can't lay (down) our arms because we don't trust this regime."
At least 69 people were killed across the country Sunday, according to the Local Coordination Committees of Syria (LCC), a network of opposition activists.
That means at least 525 people have been killed since the Syrian government signaled its intention to adhere to the Tuesday deadline to withdraw its forces from cities, according to opposition activists.
Some of the worst reported violence Sunday was in Idlib province, where 28 people were killed, said the opposition Local Coordination Committees of Syria.
One opposition activist in Idlib, Ahmad el-Khalaf, called al-Assad a "liar" and said Monday he had no faith Syrian forces will leave and stop the violence.
"There is no life here at all," el-Khalaf said. "There are snipers all over, just waiting for someone to stand on his legs (so they can) shoot him. They don't care whether he is male, female, elderly or child. They shoot for fun."
He described the situation in which people have little food or water, living in constant fear amid accounts of "women being raped, houses being burned" and "people being slaughtered."
CNN cannot independently verify reports of violence and deaths, as the government has severely restricted access to international media.
The United Nations estimates that the violence in Syria, which began a year ago, has killed at least 9,000 people. The LCC puts the toll at more than 11,000.
CNN's Yousuf Basil, Jim Clancy, Ivan Watson, Salma Abdelaziz, Holly Yan, Kareem Khadder and Samira Said contributed to this report.
