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SYRIA’S grim slide to all-out civil war has hit a welcome bump, as the government of Bashar Assad pledged to abide by a ceasefire starting on April 12th. The halt in the fighting was part of a six-point plan devised by Kofi Annan, the UN and Arab League special envoy for Syria. Apparent progress came in other ways, with Syria promising to allow the Red Cross to deliver more aid to beleaguered areas, and with Syria’s closest allies urging compliance with the plan.The sudden hint of a reprieve followed a disturbing recent rise in violence. With Mr Assad’s troops apparently determined to wipe out armed opposition in advance of the ceasefire, the Syrian National Council, an umbrella opposition group based in Istanbul, protested that the death rate had climbed to 1,000 during the first week of April, a sharp upsurge for a conflict that has claimed, on UN estimates, some 9,000 victims in a whole year. Human Rights Watch, an American advocacy group, issued a report detailing execution-style killings of captives, including whole families, by Syrian government forces in March.The conflict has spilled over Syria’s borders. Shots fired from Syria killed at least one civilian in Lebanon and wounded several in Turkey on April 10th, prompting a sharp Turkish reprimand, and threats of stronger Turkish action (see...