Chris Harmer, a Syria analyst at the Institute for the Study of War, said Assad’s army is exhausted after more than five years of war and is surviving because of support from Russia, Iran, Hezbollah and Shiite militias.
Advertisement
The Syrian government’s envoy to peace talks in Geneva, Bashar Ja’afari, defended his government’s record on humanitarian aid, criticizing the opposition for shedding “crocodile tears” about alleged lapses.
Aid deliveries to the four localities always occur simultaneously and in equal amounts, and a similar stipulation applied for those being evacuated.
Hawar news reported on Thursday that Kurdish forces, which have carved out a zone of semi-autonomy in Syria’s north over the course of the country’s violent and ongoing conflict, managed to seize the Alaya prison, inside the city, after the government fighters inside it gave themselves up.
Syria has said opposition calls for Assad to leave the office he’s held since 2000 are a “red line”.
The High Negotiation Committee, representing a coalition of opposition groups, withdrew most of its negotiators in Geneva over the past two days, and said there was little point in returning to formal talks until there was a clear commitment from the Syrian government to talk about a political transition that does not include Mr. Assad.
Armed opposition groups that have signed on to the cease-fire must end their ties with the al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front to avoid getting attacked, said Alexei Borodavkin, Russia’s ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva and representative at Syria peace talks.
Airstrikes on Friday hit insurgent-held areas in Aleppo, where residents counted at least 11 airstrikes in eight neighborhoods, in addition to attacks by surface-to-surface missiles, that left at least 16 people dead, Adnan Hadad, an antigovernment activist in the city, said in an Internet chat.
A partial truce, brokered by Washington and Moscow, had brought about a lull in fighting between the government and rebels since Feb 27.
The wider province of Kilis borders areas in Syria that are hotly contested by Syrian anti-government rebels, Kurdish factions, and Islamic State militants.
The February cease-fire has been teetering amid rising violence.
De Mistura, meanwhile, said the current round of talks will continue until “probably Wednesday, as originally planned”.
In light of deep-seated differences of opinion, the envoy urged the International Syria Support Group (ISSG) ministers to reconvene as soon as possible in a bid to rekindle hopes of reaching a solution to the crisis which has killed some 400,000 people, according to de Mistura’s own estimate.
A top American official says the U.S.is concerned about reports that Russian Federation is moving military personnel and equipment back into Syria. “We believe that our efforts are best focused on supporting the diplomatic process”, Mr Rhodes added.
Opposition units said artillery pieces were being flown in by helicopter, adding to a belief that Moscow, which helped broker the cessation of hostilities deal seven weeks ago, now intends to spearhead efforts to retake the rebel-held east of the city. There was no comment from the government.
Jean-Marc Ayrault told reporters in Paris on Friday that humanitarian access to besieged areas in Syria “must be total”, saying there have been “too many fetters”.
The state-run Anadolu Agency says two rockets struck Kilis, a town just a few kilometers from the Syrian border, late Friday.
Advertisement
The ceasefire, tenuous from the start, is now barely holding, with two airstrikes by Syrian jets on towns in Idlib province this week.
