The aim was to help alleviate the suffering of the Syrian people who have been reeling under the pressure of the almost five-year-old conflict.
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“They were all so happy, they had heard that Saudi and Turkey may send troops and they thought it would be in their advantage”, said Hashim al-Moussawi, a spokesman for Harakat al-Nujaba, an Iraqi Shiite militia which has fighters on the ground in Syria.
“Regarding a ceasefire, a halt to operations, if it happened, it doesn’t mean that each party will stop using weapons”, Assad said in Damascus in televised comments.
De Mistura will meet Moualem in Damascus again later Tuesday, Fawzi said, adding that he had no further information on whether de Mistura will meet Syrian opposition groups.
World powers agreed last week to a cessation of hostilities, set to begin Friday, in order to let badly needed humanitarian aid be delivered.
“A ceasefire must mean stopping terrorists from strengthening their positions”.
“There can’t be a ceasefire without a goal or a time”. Ok, then who is capable of bringing together all these conditions within a week?
“They are saying they want a ceasefire in a week”.
That’s not necessarily a disaster, as many ceasefires require multiple tries before they really take hold, but the diplomatic hot-button issue of Syria is likely to see any failed ceasefire followed by a lot of finger-pointing and worldwide escalation of rhetoric.
“Any transition must be done in accordance to the current constitution, which will still be valid until we reach a new one”, he said, in apparent response to the call by some regional countries for his ouster.
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He said it was not yet clear how long De Mistura would be in the country.
