World Watches Syria as Cease-fire Draws Near
U.S. President Barack Obama warned Moscow and Damascus on Thursday that the “world will be watching” their commitment to the impending cease-fire set to begin Saturday.
As the 17-nation support group backing the peace process in Syria prepared to fine-tune the temporary truce deal, Obama warned that the next few days would be critical to the agreement’s success.
Obama said he was not “under any illusions” about the plethora of potential spoilers, but said the cease-fire was the best chance at ending the five-year-long war and keeping Syria intact.
“A lot of that is going to depend on whether the Syrian regime, Russia and their allies live up to their commitments,” Obama said, according to AFP. “The coming days will be critical, and the world will be watching.”
The United Nations has increased its efforts to deliver aid to besieged communities across the country ahead of the cease-fire deadline, sending more than 180 trucks of aid to six different blockaded communities over the past two weeks.
The partial truce agreement does not apply to jihadist militants from the Islamic State group (ISIS) or the al-Qaida-linked al-Nusra Front. Damascus said Wednesday that it would exclude the rebel stronghold of Daraya – where al-Nusra makes up one-fifth of the fighters opposed to the rule of Bashar al-Assad – from the cease-fire.
Activists in Daraya said the army has increased its attacks on the area over the past few days, dropping dozens of barrel bombs from helicopters.
Opposition forces worry that the Syrian government and the Russian air force will continue to target rebel fighters under the pretext of firing on the al-Nusra Front.
Government Recaptures Strategic Aleppo Town
Pro-government forces backed by heavy Russian airstrikes recaptured a strategic town in Aleppo from ISIS on Thursday just days ahead of the U.S.-Russian-backed cease-fire, the Associated Press reports.
According to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the army and its allied militias captured the town of Khanaser, 30 miles (50km) southeast of Aleppo city, after three days of heavy fighting.
ISIS fighters seized the town earlier this week, cutting government forces’ access to the province’s capital city.
The recapture of Khanaser has allowed the government to reestablish its supply route to parts of Aleppo where the Syrian army, along with Iran’s Revolutionary Guard and Lebanon’s Hezbollah, have been gaining ground ahead of this weekend’s cease-fire.
A news agency close to ISIS, Amaq, said that the supply road remained closed.
ISIS fighters withdrew from Khanaser and as of Thursday evening were waging fierce battles against government forces near the villages of Rasm al-Nafal and Bourg al-Zarour, Reuters reports.
U.N.’s First Aid Airdrop a Failure
The United Nations has admitted that its first attempt to airdrop humanitarian aid to Syrians under siege was largely a failure, the BBC reports.
Nearly half of the 21 pallets of aid dropped over the eastern city of Deir Ezzor on Wednesday went unaccounted for, seven landed in no-man’s land and four were damaged upon landing.
Although initial reports from the U.N. and the Syrian Arab Red Crescent suggested that the drop had landed on target, the World Food Program (WFP) issued a statement later in the day saying the operation had “faced technical difficulties.”
A WFP spokesman confirmed to the BBC that all 21 palettes dropped by parachute were damaged, went off-target or were unaccounted for.
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 completely besieged communities where reports of severe malnutrition and starvation are on the rise. Another 4 million people live in “hard-to-reach” areas.
Recommended Reads
- Al-Jazeera: Syria: Under Russia’s Fist
- CNN: Syria’s Cessation of Hostilities, Explained
- CBS: On the Syrian Front Line, Where There Will Be No Truce
- The Washington Post: Mr. Putin Continues to Call the Shots in Syria
- Al-Jazeera: The Syrian Refugees of Gaza
- The Nation: What do Syrian Rebels Think of the Cease-fire?
Top image: President Barack Obama holds a meeting at the State Department focused on Syria and the campaign to destroy ISIS in Washington, on Thursday, Feb. 25, 2016. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)