They added that the exclusion of Jabhat Fateh al-Sham from the ceasefire would be used as an excuse by Russian Federation and the Syrian regime to bomb other rebel groups.
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Ahrar Al Sham “is not bound by the truce and won’t abide by it” because that would benefit the forces of al-Assad, its spokesman said.
On the ground, residents were split on whether a truce could hold, saying they were exhausted after several rounds of failed ceasefires, most recently in February.
Following the U.S. -Russian announcement of the cease-fire deal, rebel groups held marathon negotiations in both Turkey and Syria to decide whether to accept it and distance themselves from Syria Conquest Front.
The Syrian government has told Moscow it is prepared to comply with the deal, and opposition forces have also said they will fulfil the peace plan’s requirements if the government demonstrates it is serious about ending the bloodshed. -Russian agreement. He said it created a “real window of opportunity which all relevant actors in the region and beyond should seize, to put the crisis in Syria on a different path and reduce the violence and suffering of the Syrian people”.
If there is “reduced violence” in Syria for seven consecutive days after the truce begins Monday, and if sufficient humanitarian aid is allowed into Aleppo, a senior U.S. State Department official said, “the two main events of this agreement start to take effect”.
Abdalah Khallil, a rebel who participated in the Turkish backed attack on the Islamic State group last month told ABC’s AM program: “The ceasefire is politically motivated and aims at getting rid of Jabhat Fateh el Sham and the Islamic State group”.
The United States warned insurgents on Saturday they would face “dire consequences” if they cooperated with Jabhet Fateh al-Sham, which fought alongside a range of mainstream and Islamist rebel groups during intense battles in recent weeks in southern Aleppo.
The United Nations said on Friday the Syrian government had effectively stopped aid convoys this month and the besieged city of Aleppo was close to running out of fuel, making a successful truce even more urgent. In particular it notes that some Iranian backed militias are included in the deal while Jabhat Fateh al-Sham – a sunni group which was previously affiliated to Al Qaeda (then known as Jabhat al-Nusra) – is excluded.
“As the Syrian government has reiterated. the maintenance and prevalence of the truce hinges on the establishment of a comprehensive monitoring mechanism, especially border controls to prevent the dispatch of fresh terrorists and shipment of weapons and other material resources for the terror groups”, he pointed out. Rebels, meanwhile, announced new offensives in the south, in Daraa and Quneitra.
In a letter to the United States, the Free Syrian Army said it plans to “co-operate positively” and respect the ceasefire, but wrote that a lack of enforcement mechanisms and a lack of provision for some of the country’s most besieged areas were worrying.
But that scenario is complicated by the fact that the powerful al-Qaida-linked faction, Jabhat Fatah al-Sham, remains intertwined with several other factions.
At least 62 people, including 13 women and 13 children, were killed in Saturday’s bombardment of Idlib city, the Britain-based Observatory said.
The cease-fire agreement, if honored, will open corridors for the U.N.to reach Syrians in Aleppo with badly needed relief. “The shelling goes on night and day, there are targeted killings, besieged cities”, said Abu Abdullah, who lives in Aleppo’s rebel-held east. “Civilians have no hope anymore”.
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In the aftermath on Sunday, rebels and opposition activists were asking whether the government’s side could be trusted.
