The Syrian opposition welcomes the UN observer mission as a guarantee of further peaceful revolution – the key to resolving the year-long political crisis, the leader of a major Syrian opposition group said on Wednesday.

Burhan Ghalioun, the chairman of the Transitional National Council, also said the opposition hoped the ceasefire plan of UN envoy Kofi Annan would provide more extensive international support for the revolution in Syria.

"It is not Annan's plan that will end the Syrian conflict but further peaceful revolution," Ghalioun said in an interview with the Egyptian newspaper Al-Ahram, as quoted by RIA Novosti.

Annan's universally approved peace plan came into force in Syria on April 12, though there have been reports of numerous violations of the truce by both government and opposition forces.

The UN Security Council authorized on Saturday the dispatch of 300 military observers to Syria to supervise on the ceasefire between the government and opposition forces.

Ghalioun said arms supplies to the opposition were still on the agenda, but "only for rebuffing the attacks of government troops and defending Syrians who attend peaceful demonstrations."

In further remarks, the opposition leader accused Iran of supporting the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

"In practice, it is not the Syrians who command the army's actions against the protesters but the Iranians," he said.

More than 9,000 people have been killed in Syria since the outbreak of a popular uprising against President al-Assad last March, according to the UN.

Western nations and Israel have accused the Syrian authorities of violently suppressing the protests. Al-Assad in turn has accused the West of supporting the protesters, who he says are al-Qaeda linked militants and army defectors.

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