PHOTO: Hirbnafsah in Hama Province, attacked by the Syrian army on Tuesday

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Iran Daily: “Syria Ceasefire Just An Excuse to Change Assad Regime”

UPDATE 0745 GMT: UN envoy Staffan de Mistura has rescheduled the resumption of political talks for March 9.

De Mistura said on Tuesday that he was postponing the meeting by 48 hours, “We are delaying it to the afternoon of the 9th for logistical and technical reasons and also for the ceasefire to better settle down. I will not delay it further.”

At the start of February, an attempt at “proximity talks” between the Assad regime and an opposition-rebel bloc lasted less than five days, as Russia stepped up bombing during the meetings. The opposition-rebel High Negotiations Committee has insisted on ceasefires and aid to besieged areas before talks can be held.

“We don’t want discussions in Geneva to become a discussion about infringements or not of the ceasefire, we want them to actually address the core of everything,” De Mistura said.

ORIGINAL ENTRY: Despite Syria’s four-day ceasefire, the Assad regime’s military continued to attack on the ground in parts of the country on Tuesday.

Both in Hama Province in west-central Syria and near Damascus in the south, Syrian forces tried to use the cover of a “cessation of hostilities” to grab territory.

Although a cessation was declared early Saturday, both Russia and the Assad regime have justified operations against opposition-held areas through the clause that attacks are permitted against the Islamic State and the jihadists of Jabhat al-Nusra.

Neither ISIS nor Nusra are present in the locations under assault on Tuesday.

The Local Coordination Committees reported the deaths of 32 people in opposition-held areas, including 10 people in ‎Homs Province‬, 7 in ‪‎Hama‬, 5 in ‪‎Idlib‬, 3 in ‪‎Damascus and its suburbs‬, 3 in ‪‎Latakia‬, 2 in ‪‎Aleppo‬, and 2 in ‪#Daraa‬.

In Hama, the Syrian army again attempted to move into the town of Hirbsafnah, supported by artillery and air raids. Rebels claimed — as with all the attacks since Sunday — that they repelled the assault.

An airstrike on the town:

A rebel counter-attack on Syrian forces at a power station:

Syrian Army Seizes Territory Near Damascus

In the East Ghouta area, regime forces took agricultural territory in the 28 villages of the al-Marj region, according to local journalists and a rebel spokesman.

“The freezing of fronts in some areas allowed the regime…to surprise rebels in East Ghouta with huge numbers of forces that it summoned from the cold [i.e., less active] fronts,” Wael al-Alwan, a spokesman for the Feilaq a-Rahman faction, told Syria Direct.

The Syrian Army moved into the Agricultural Center, which had been converted by rebels into a base, and the village of al-Fadhaiya.

Al-Marj, about 12 km (7.5 miles) east of Damascus, is the largest agricultural area in East Ghouta. Supported by the Russian intervention, regime forces began their advance in autumn 2015 with the capture of the village of Marj a-Sultan and the airport within it.

A local fighter warned this week, “The regime’s advance in al-Marj could mean the starvation of East Ghouta residents.”

The Syrian army began its attack in East Ghouta on Saturday, hours after the supposed ceasefire, with a failed attempt to storm the village of Bala.

There were also more claims on Monday of aerial attacks on opposition-held areas of Idlib Province, such as Mastoumeh, Knidda, and al-Zainiyah.

Assad: “Terrorists Breached Ceasefire From Start”

President Assad has denied the evidence of Russian and regime attacks, insisting that rebels carried on fighting.

Assad told German TV on Sunday night, in an interview brought on Tuesday:

I think you know that the terrorists breached the agreement from the very first hour.

As for the Syrian Army, we have refrained ourselves from retaliating in order to give the chance for the agreement to survive. That’s what we can do, but at the end everything has a limit. It depends on the other side.

Israel: Assad Regime Used Chemical Weapons During Truce

Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon said on Tuesday that the Syrian military had not only violated the cessation but had used chemical weapons.

Ya’alon told a confernce near Tel Aviv, “The regime used military grade chemical weapons and lately have been using materials, chlorine, against civilians, including in these very days, after the supposed ceasefire, dropping barrels of chlorine on civilians.”

He gave no details of the attacks.

Fears of Bread Shortage in Rastan in Homs

Local officials are warning of a bread shortage in opposition-held Rastan in northern Homs Province.

After meeting ozens of residents, the civilian local council suspended operations on Sunday and launched an urgent appeal to humanitarian organizations to “extend a helping hand”, criticizing the United Nations and the “negligence of the [opposition] interim government and provincial council”.

Rastan, on the northern edge of a pocket of opposition territory, has been encircled by the regime for the past four years. It was reportedly bombed last weekend despite a supposed cessation of hostilities.

Regime Releases Sheikh After Pressure from Druze Militia

The Syrian military has released a sheikh in southeast Syria after pressure by local Druze militia.

Sheikh Anas Abu Hala was detained by soldiers at a checkpoint. Druze militiamen responded by arresting 46 regime soldiers in Suweida Province.

The Druze militia said the sheikh was taken because he was “wanted for military service”, but a local journalist he was arrested for “transporting weapons purchased for the Sheikhs of Dignity” movement.

Last summer, the Sheikhs of Dignity leader, Sheikh Wahid al-Balous publicly denounced the regime for forced conscription of Druze men, offering refuge to deserters in his home. Balous was assassinated in a car bombing in September.

The local journalist, Osama Zeydan, said the Syrian military’s authority continued to ebb:

The regime’s presence in the province doesn’t have any real value anymore—not militarily or with regard to security. As an example, the regime can no longer simply arrest individuals as they did in the past. Rather, they have to rely on kidnappings conducted by gangs affiliated with the regime — who they refer to as National Defense of Self-Defense forces — and some religious individuals associated with the al-Aql Sheikhs that are tied to the regime.

Journalists Wounded Amid Shelling Near Turkish Border — But Who Fired on Them?

Four journalists have reportedly been slightly wounded amid shellfire in Latakia Province near the Turkish border.

A group of about 30 correspondents were being escorted by Russian and regime troops when the shelling occurred near Kinsibba, a village captured last month by the Syrian military.

One of the wounded journalists, Raymond Saint-Pierre of Radio-Canada, said, “Syrian soldiers were explaining the proximity of Turkish troops when suddenly, as we were preparing to leave, we were targeted by a bombardment.”

Saint-Pierre said that there were “at least eight to 10 explosions” and that four civilians were wounded. The reporters hurt his hand, knee, and elbow and cracked a few ribs as he hit the ground to avoid the shelling.

No group was identified as the source of the attack, although Russia is trying to make the case that the jihadists of Jabhat al-Nusra — exempt from the recently-established “cessation of hostilities” — are in the ara.

Russian media said that journalists from China, Bulgaria, and Russia were also wounded.

Russian FM Lavrov: “Aid Convoys Are Smuggling Weapons”

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has denounced aid convoys into opposition-held areas in northern Syria, claiming that they are carrying weapons from Turkey.

Lavrov told a UN Human Rights Council session on Tuesday, “A special task is to cut short terrorists’ supplies from outside, for which purpose it is necessary to close the border of Syria with Turkey, through which arms are being supplied to gunmen, including in convoys with humanitarian aid.”

Both the UN Security Council and the US-Russian “cessation of hostilities” plan call for aid to besieged areas, but Moscow and the Assad regime are trying to limit deliveries to opposition towns through the demand that convoys must be rigorously inspected.

Russia Angrily Rejects NATO Claim of Unguided Bombs

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin has rejected claims by NATO that Moscow is using unguided bombs in Syria.

“Shifting the blame: the specialist on bombing Afghan weddings has accused us of ‘non-precise bombing’,” Rogozin wrote on his Facebook page on Wednesday.

Supreme Allied Commander Philip Breedlove said on Tuesday, “These indiscriminate weapons used by both Bashar al-Assad, and the non-precision use of weapons by the Russian forces, I can’t find any other reason for them other than to cause refugees to be on the move and make them someone else’s problem.”

He continued, “Together, Russia and the Assad regime are deliberately weaponizing migration in an attempt to overwhelm European structures and break European resolve.”

Russia’s Defense Ministry has proclaimed the success of precision strikes, but videos and photographs have shown Moscow’s warplanes equipped with unguided bombs.

Video: March in Opposition-Held Aleppo Calls for Removal of Assad

Marches in the opposition-held Tareeq al-Bab and al-Shaar districts of Aleppo on Tuesday called for the downfall of the Assad regime: