Tag Archives: rebels

Syria calls local truces; U.N. condemns monstrous disregard for lives

People inspect the damage at a site hit by airstrikes, in the rebel-held area of Aleppo's Bustan al-Qasr

By Lisa Barrington and Jack Stubbs

MOSCOW/BEIRUT – (Reuters) – Syria declared brief local truces near Damascus and in one province on Friday but made no mention of halting combat on the main battlefield in Aleppo, after a surge in fighting the United Nations said showed “monstrous disregard” for civilian lives.

The new “regime of calm”, to begin from 1:00 a.m. on Saturday, would last just one day in the capital’s eastern Ghouta suburb and three days in the northern countryside of the coastal province of Latakia, the army said in a statement.

Both districts have seen intensified fighting in recent days. The statement made no mention however of the city of Aleppo, scene of the worst violence, which is divided between rebel-held and government areas. An air strike on an Aleppo hospital killed at least 27 people this week.

Russian news agencies quoted an opposition figure saying the new truce would also apply to Aleppo, but there was no separate confirmation of this.

The Syrian military statement gave no details of the meaning of the term “regime of calm”, but Russia’s Interfax news agency quoted the officer in charge of a Russian ceasefire monitoring center as saying it meant all military action would cease.

Damascus described the truces as an attempt to salvage a wider “cessation of hostilities” agreement. That ceasefire has been in place since February to allow peace talks to take place but has all but completely collapsed in recent days along with the Geneva negotiations.

The U.N. human rights chief, Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein, said violence was “soaring back to the levels we saw prior to the cessation of hostilities”.

“There are deeply disturbing reports of military build-ups indicating preparations for a lethal escalation,” Zeid said. The reports revealed a “monstrous disregard for civilian lives by all parties to the conflict”, he added.

The United Nations has called on Moscow and Washington to help restore the ceasefire to prevent the collapse of peace talks, which broke up this week in Geneva with virtually no progress after the opposition walked out.

“I DREAD THE HORROR”

“The cessation of hostilities and the Geneva talks were the only game in town, and if they are abandoned now, I dread to think how much more horror we will see in Syria,” Zeid said.

Air strikes on rebel-held areas of Aleppo and shelling of government-held areas of the city resumed on Friday after a brief dawn lull.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitoring group, said air strikes and government shelling had killed at least 131 civilians including 21 children in rebel areas in the past week, while rebel shelling of government areas had killed 71 civilians including 13 children.

At least six people died and more were injured and trapped under fallen buildings in air strikes on Friday on rebel-held areas, the Observatory said.

Bebars Mishal, a civil defense chief working in rebel-held areas of Aleppo, told Reuters there were a number of air attacks in the morning, many of them around mosques in rebel-held areas. Mishal said one hit a clinic in Aleppo’s Al-Marja district.

Syrian state television said people had been killed and wounded and a building set on fire during shelling of government-held quarters in Aleppo, which included a hit on a mosque as people were leaving Friday prayers.

The war in Syria has killed more than 250,000 people, with the U.N. envoy giving a toll as high as 400,000.

(Writing by Peter Graff, reporting by Omar Fahmy, editing by Peter Millership)

U.S. concerned Russia moving military equipment into Syria

A Russian Sukhoi Su-24 front-line bomber is seen on a runway shortly before taking off, part of the withdrawal of Russian troops from Syria, at Hmeymim airbase, Syria,

By Roberta Rampton and John Irish

RIYADH/GENEVA (Reuters) – The United States said on Thursday it was concerned about reports that Russia is moving more military equipment into Syria to bolster President Bashar al-Assad with a truce in tatters and peace talks in meltdown.

Fighting raged across Syria after the truce, brokered by Washington and Moscow to allow talks to take place, ended and both sides geared up for more war. Russian intervention late last year swayed the conflict in Assad’s favor.

“We’ve been concerned about reports of Russia moving materiel into Syria,” Ben Rhodes, deputy national security adviser to President Barack Obama, said at a news briefing in Riyadh, where Obama was at a summit with Gulf Arab leaders.

“We think it would be negative for Russia to move additional military equipment or personnel into Syria. We believe that our efforts are best focused on supporting the diplomatic process,” Rhodes added.

U.N. special envoy Staffan de Mistura will on Friday assess whether Geneva talks can continue with the main opposition negotiator refusing to participate and combatants accusing each other of breaking the six-week-old ceasefire.

The opposition this week urged more military support for rebels after declaring a truce was over.

Major nations have urged both parties not to miss this chance to try to halt the five-year conflict in which more than 250,000 people have been killed but on Thursday only experts were meeting and more opposition representatives were leaving.

Syrian government negotiators say Assad’s presidency is non-negotiable while the opposition says the president must step down and complains of no progress on an end to violence, humanitarian access and political detainees.

BUOYED BY RUSSIAN FIREPOWER

Both sides remain far apart and it will be difficult to lure the opposition back to the table if fighting resumes unchecked, with the government taking advantage of Russia’s firepower.

Press reports in the United States have indicated that Russia has moved more artillery into Syria, weeks after declaring a partial withdrawal of its military presence there.

States opposed to Assad have been channeling military support to vetted rebel groups via both Turkey and Jordan, in a program that has included military training overseen by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency.

France, which accused the government of rushing “headlong” into violence and showing its refusal to negotiate a political solution, said it would consider with other European powers and the United States the idea of convening a ministerial meeting of major powers in the next two weeks to work out what to do.

The talks in Geneva aim to halt a conflict that has allowed for the rise of the Islamic State group, sucked in regional and major powers and created the world’s worst refugee crisis.

Total collapse of the talks would leave a diplomatic vacuum allowing further escalation of the war that is being fueled by rivalries between foreign powers including oil producers Iran and Saudi Arabia.

Syria’s fragile peace talks might not resume for at least a year if they are abandoned now, a senior Western diplomat warned. “If we all leave Geneva, I don’t see the process continuing.”

Russia says that its intervention in Syria consists mainly of air and rocket strikes. It says its presence on the ground is limited to a naval base at the port of Tartous, an air base at Hmeymim, in Syria’s Latakia province, search-and-rescue crews to recover downed air crews, de-mining specialists, and advisers.

In the past month, it has acknowledged for the first time that it has special forces conducting operations behind enemy lines. It has previously denied having regular units and artillery on the ground.

BATTLE FOR ALEPPO

The widely violated truce began fraying some two weeks ago near Aleppo, where the Syrian army accused rebel groups of taking part in assaults by Islamists who are not covered by the ceasefire. Rebels say they were defending themselves from attacks by the army and its Shi’ite militia allies.

The opposition accuses the government of violating the cessation of hostilities to capture Aleppo, Syria’s most populous city before the war, which has been divided between government-controlled and rebel-held zones for years.

The United Nations expressed deep concern over the fate of Syrians who have fled fighting near the northern city of Aleppo.

The Syrian government negotiator Bashar Ja’afari poured contempt on the opposition for its partial walkout, accusing it of sulking and political immaturity.

Leaving Geneva on Thursday, senior Syrian opposition negotiator Mohammad Alloush said Syrian government forces must “stop massacres” before talks can resume.

De Mistura said on Thursday there had been modest progress on humanitarian aid in Syria and Russia was pushing for a convoy to enter the besieged town of Daraya. He said in the next few days he would appoint a coordinator to handle the issue of detainees in Syria.

The envoy said prevention by the Syrian government of the passage of medical equipment into besieged areas was “worrisome” and against international law.

(Writing by Peter Millership, reporting by Stephanie Nebehay, Bushra Shakshir and Tom Perry)