Matthew Rycroft welcomed the UN’s adoption of the Security Council resolution on the ceasefire in Syria, which started on Friday, but said much more needed to be done.
Advertisement
In a briefing to the Security Council before the vote, UN’s Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura said he plans to restart Syria peace talks on March 7 in Geneva, if the truce “largely holds” and ensures more effective delivery of humanitarian aid.
Ahmet Davutoglu says his country will respond to such actions and that Turkey will not be bound by the cease-fire agreement due to be implemented this this week if the Kurdish militia poses any threat.
“We support a ceasefire that will allow our Syrian brothers to breathe”.
The cease-fire is to go into effect on midnight Friday.
The Kremlin has dismissed reports that its jets targeted strongholds of all militants in Syria ahead of a ceasefire, saying Moscow only bombed “terrorist organizations” in the Arab country.
Although it has committed in principle to the truce, the main Syrian opposition umbrella group is deeply skeptical and has kept its meetings in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, open while it seeks clarifications from the USA about the mechanism for the implementation of the agreement. The High Negotiations Committee, or HNC, said a military committee has been formed to follow up on adherence.
State Department deputy spokesman Mark Toner said Washington had received assurances from Moscow that it would not bomb the “moderate opposition” after the truce.
Turkey, a key backer of rebel groups, has also expressed scepticism over the deal.
The ceasefire in Syria hammered out by Moscow and Washington earlier this week came into force at midnight Damascus time on Saturday.
Fighting continued meanwhile, particularly around the city of Aleppo.
Kalin also warned the refugee crisis that has hit Europe will escalate unless the Syrian government’s ground operations are stopped.
But it remains to be seen whether the “cessation” will have a tangible impact on the fighting that has raged in Syria for 5 years now. It gave no further detail.
The Nusra Front on Friday urged insurgent groups to intensify their attacks against President Bashar Al Assad and his allies. The Kremlin described the calls as an effort to explain the substance of the US-Russia-brokered ceasefire.
“In Damascus and its countryside… for the first time in years, calm prevails”, Observatory director Rami Abdulrahman said. But success requires adherence by multiple armed factions – and the truce is made more fragile because it allows fighting to continue against the Islamic State group and Nusra Front, which could easily re-ignite broader warfare.
“If Daesh (IS) and Al-Nusra are kept outside the ceasefire, then the PYD-YPG must similarly be excluded from the ceasefire for it is a terrorist group just as they are”, Erdogan told local officials in Ankara.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring organisation reported at least 26 air raids and artillery shelling targeting the town of Douma in rebel-held Eastern Ghouta near Damascus. IS is not included in the cease-fire.
Advertisement
IS attacked the Khanaser area on Monday, capturing the town only to lose it Thursday.
