HNC Signals Readiness for ‘Two-Week’ Cease-fire
Syria’s opposition signaled on Wednesday it would support the idea of a two-week truce in Syria, saying it would allow them to test the commitment of the Syrian government and its backers to the U.S.-Russian-brokered plan for a cessation of hostilities.
The Riyadh-based High Negotiations Committee (HNC), the largest opposition coalition, said it “views a temporary two-week truce as a chance to establish how serious the other side is in committing to the points of the agreement,” Reuters reports.
The HNC objected to Russia’s role as a guarantor of the cease-fire alongside the U.S., arguing that Moscow was directly involved in the conflict.
Pressure is building on Syria’s warring parties to abide to the temporary truce brokered by Moscow and Washington, which is set to begin on Saturday, but doubts remain over the viability of a plan that excludes the so-called Islamic State (ISIS) and the al-Qaida-linked al-Nusra Front.
The opposition worries the Syrian government and the Russian air force will continue to target rebel forces under the pretext of firing on al-Nusra Front.
In a phone conversation on Wednesday, Syrian president Bashar al-Assad told Russian president Vladimir Putin his government was ready to agree to help implement the truce, but stressed the importance of continuing an “uncompromising” fight against ISIS, al-Nusra and other militant groups.
The Russian Defense Ministry said it had reduced the intensity of its airstrikes in Syria over the past two days in areas where armed groups had expressed readiness to participate in the cease-fire.
The Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Force (YPG) told Reuters on Wednesday it would observe the cease-fire but reserved the right to respond to any attack.
Turkey, worried over the expanding autonomous Kurdish area along its border and angered by heavy Russian intervention that has stabilized Assad’s hold in Syria, said the cease-fire would only benefit the Syrian government.
“If this is a cease-fire that is up to the mercy of Russia, which has brutally attacked the moderate opposition and aligned with Assad under the pretext of fighting Islamic State, we fear that the fire pouring over innocent people will never stop,” Turkish president Tayyip Erdogan said in a televised speech.
Government Fights ISIS for Control of Key Road
Pro-government forces battled ISIS militants on Wednesday for the third day in a row outside the town of Khanaser, a strategic town southeast of Aleppo, where the extremist group has cut the main road into the government-controlled half of the city.
In an interview with Reuters a government military source denied the town had fallen to ISIS, saying government fighters were engaging the extremists from nearby positions.
“There were fierce battles yesterday evening, in which Daesh suffered large numbers of dead, and three armored vehicle bombs were destroyed,” the source said, using the Arabic acronym for ISIS.
ISIS has increased its attacks on government-held areas in recent weeks, launching some of the most deadly attacks of the war on Sunday in Damascus and Homs, where suicide bombers killed some 200 people.
The attack in Khanaser severed a central army supply route to parts of Aleppo where Russian-backed pro-government fighters, including Iran’s Revolutionary Guard and Lebanon’s Hezbollah, have been gaining ground.
U.N. Makes First Airdrop of Aid to Deir Ezzor
The United Nations carried out its first airdrop of aid in Syria on Wednesday to civilians in the eastern city of Deir Ezzor, which is besieged by ISIS.
Planes dropped 21 tons of humanitarian aid to the government-held area of Deir Ezzor, U.N. aid chief Stephen O’Brien told the Security Council.
According to U.N. figures, some 200,000 civilians are trapped in the government-held area of the city, surrounded by ISIS and prevented from leaving by the Syrian army.
The U.N. estimates that more than 480,000 Syrians live in totally besieged communities where reports of severe malnutrition and starvation deaths are on the rise. More than 4 million people live in “hard-to-reach” areas.
Last week, aid convoys reached the rebel-held areas of Moadamiya, Madaya and Zabadani, near Damascus, and the pro-government towns of Fuaa and Kafraya in Idlib.
Recommended Reads
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- VoA: Showdown Looming as IS Influence Grows in Syria’s Homs Province
- The New York Times: Are Kurds Allies or Obstacles in Syria?
- Bloomberg: Syria Truce Prospects Questioned as Military Suffers Setback
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Top image: A banner of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad reads “We’re all with you” and hangs at the popular Souk Tawil old market in Damascus. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)