“I will tell my expectations for the coming two days”, Abdelkafi al-Hamdo, a teacher and an anti-government activist, said in a text message minutes after the deal between the United States and Russian Federation was announced.
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Such intensification of violence has occurred before other, aborted, ceasefires in Syria, reports the BBC’s Middle East analyst Sebastian Usher.
The influential hardline Islamist rebel group Ahrar al-Sham issued a statement late on Sunday attacking the ceasefire deal, but stopping short of explicitly saying it would not abide by its terms.
The army is bolstered by 200,000 irregular fighters, notably from the National Defence Forces. Lebanese Shia militia Hezbollah, which has intervened militarily on behalf of Assad, also announced its support. Jabhet Fatah al-Sham said the deal aimed to weaken the “effective” anti-Assad forces, and to “bury” the revolution.
Opposition factions deemed “moderate” are backed by the West, particularly the US, France and Britain.
However, this Iranian effort saw some extreme efforts from regional and [non-regional] countries such as America, Turkey and Saudi Arabia, to [make] the Iranian [initiatives] fail.
Another key opposition group is the Saudi-backed Jaish al-Islam (Army of Islam) linked to Mohammed Alloush, a leading rebel figure who briefly acted as the chief negotiator for the main opposition umbrella group, the High Negotiations Committee (HNC).
It allows the Syrian government to continue to strike at the Islamic State group and al Qaida-linked militants with the Jabhat Fatah al-Sham group, earlier known as the Nusra Front, until the U.S. and Russian Federation take over the task in one week’s time.
Why is there a war in Syria? The cessation of hostilities was brokered by the United States and Russian Federation.
After months of negotiations, the USA and Russian Federation, who back opposing sides in the war, agreed to a deal aimed at putting an end to the bloodshed in Syria.
Illustrating how widely insurgents work with the former al Qaeda affiliate, Ahrar al-Sham was one of several rebel groups to announce the launch of an offensive in the southwest in coordination with Jabhat Fateh al-Sham on Saturday. The groups, including many which openly back opposition forces, said they would no longer participate in the UN’s information-sharing system.
What do the government and opposition say?
“We have come here to give the message that the Syrian nation is determined to retake every piece of land from the terrorists, and to re-establish safety and security, to reconstruct and rebuild infrastructure and rebuild everything that has been destroyed”, he said in footage broadcast by the state-run Syrian Arab News Agency. Both the YPG and the SDF said on Monday that they would respect the ceasefire.
Ironically, given President Obama’s disavowal of the type of rhetoric prevalent in the early years of the War on Terror, his administration has presented Syria’s opposition with a choice reminiscent of George W. Bush’s infamous dictum: “you are either with us, or you are with the terrorists”.
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John Kerry said that “if the plan is “implemented in good faith” it will reduce violence, ease suffering, and help move towards a negotiated peace and a political transition in Syria”.
