There have been numerous reports that the cessation of hostilities – which differs from a complete ceasefire in that it was not negotiated with all parties to the conflict – has been violated.
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While there were a lot of claims of “violations”, particularly on the first day, everyone seems to be holding back, and fighting within Syria is nearly entirely restricted to clashes involving factions like al-Qaeda’s Nusra Front, which were explicitly excluded from the ceasefire.
The Syrian opposition’s top negotiator said Thursday that the country’s fragile truce was on the verge of collapse, the group’s most pessimistic assessment yet of the six-day-old cease-fire effort.
“The level of violence in the country has been greatly reduced”, he said, adding that “in general the cessation of hostilities has been holding, though unfortunately we have to admit there are still a number of places where fighting has continued”.
Halting the fighting and stepping up aid deliveries in Syria, especially to almost half a million people in besieged areas, are vital to pave the way for peace talks, he said.
“The moment we have, God willing, a real cessation of hostilities, humanitarian access, and implementation of these three points – new governance, constitution and elections – I can bet that many of them not only will not leave but will return, especially if we have a massive “Marshall Plan” to rebuild Syria”, de Mistura said.
“In the last two weeks, 236 trucks have served 115,000 people”, he said.
World powers have thrown their weight behind the ceasefire agreement as a way to bring an end to the complex war, starting with renewed peace talks in Geneva set for March 9.
United Nations officials have cited problems in getting enough trucks in place as well as difficulties in winning approvals from Syrian government officials, who have at times stripped out badly needed medical supplies from convoys.
The opposition in turn says the Syrian government has breached the fragile truce by repeatedly attacking its positions, which the government denies. Cameron’s spokeswoman, Helen Bower, said Western leaders would stress to Russian President Vladimir Putin the importance of maintaining the truce so that peace talks can make progress in Geneva next week.
The truce, sponsored by Russian Federation and the United States, began on Saturday and has been dogged by opposition charges of non-compliance by Damascus – something President Bashar al-Assad has denied.
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Also on Thursday, Syrian state TV reported a sudden electricity blackout across the entire country for unknown reasons.
