Rebels Declare End of Cease-Fire in Latakia

Rebel groups in Jabal al-Akard in rural Latakia announced on Monday that they would resume fighting, in response to what they say have been continuous attacks by the Syrian army and its allied militia on villages and civilian areas.

According to a statement released by the joint rebel control room in the area, this move comes after continuous violations of the truce and non-stop bombardment of camps for internally displaced people and residential neighborhoods.

Following the announcement, armed rebels captured the village of Rasha and its surrounding area, reportedly killing a number of pro-government fighters.

Signatories to the statement include Ahrar al-Sham, Jaish al-Islam, the Ansar al-Sham Brigades, Jaish al-Nasr and the First Coastal Unit.

Monitors and activists on social media expressed the concern that this development might spell the end of the temporary truce in the war – as violence spreads across the country in Aleppo, Homs and now Latakia.

Opposition Threatens to End Talks if Violence Continues

The Syrian opposition’s High Negotiations Committee (HNC) threatened to quit the recently resumed peace talks in Geneva if attacks on civilians continue.

“We might suspend (our participation in) the talks if things carry on this way, and then there will be no prospect for any political solution,” HNC member Abdulhakim Bashar told Agence France-Press.

The threat comes after a renewed round of attacks by Syrian government forces on rebel-held areas in Aleppo.

At least 22 civilians were killed in various areas of Aleppo over the weekend, the highest number of civilian fatalities since the beginning of the cease-fire on February 27, according to the U.K.-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Rockets fired by opposition groups into government-held neighborhoods killed 16 civilians, including 10 children.

“The humanitarian situation is continually deteriorating,” Bashar said. “The issue of the detainees has not seen any progress, the cease-fire has almost collapsed, and now there is an attack on Aleppo from three sides.”

“Given these factors, we are reviewing everything, and we will continue our meetings today (Sunday) so that tomorrow we can decide what to do,” he concluded.

While the Syrian government considers Assad’s ouster to be a “red line,” the opposition’s chief negotiator Mohammad Alloush said his delegation refuses to compromise on the fate of Bashar al-Assad.

“You cannot trade an entire people for one man,” he said.

The truce brokered by Russia and the United States has brought relative calm to the war-torn nation, but there has been a sharp uptick in violations of the cease-fire over the past two weeks.

Assad’s Party Wins Majority in Parliamentary Elections

President Bashar al-Assad’s ruling party scored an unsurprising victory in the parliamentary elections last week, winning a wide majority of the seats.

The state-run news agency SANA reported that every candidate on the 200-member National Unity coalition list had won in polls labelled a “farce” by the opposition.

The parliamentary elections were the second to be held since the Syrian uprising began in 2011.

“Out of 8,834,994 eligible voters, more than 5 million cast their votes,” said commission head Hisham al-Shaar. The elections were held across government-controlled provinces in Syria.

Recommended Reads:

• Huffington Post: Why the Ceasefire Is Unravelling
• Salon: She’ll Make Iran, Syria Worse
• Al Monitor: U.S. Should Ditch ‘Plan B’ for Syria
• BBC: Eavesdropping on Syrian Conflict
• The New York Times: Syria’s Future: A Black Hole of Instability
• Deutsche Welle: Embedded in Syria – on the Road With the Russian Military
• BBC: The Syrians in Beirut Who Are Staying Put

Top image: Syrians shop outside the historic seventh-century Umayyad Mosque in Damascus on April 16, 2016. The mosque is one of the oldest and largest in the world and an adjacent mausoleum contains the tomb of medieval Muslim Sultan Saladin. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)