PHOTO:< UN envoy Staffan de Mistura “No doubt a significant drop in violence”


LATEST

WEDNESDAY FEATURE

Opinion: UN is “Assad’s Silent Partner in Starvation”


A ceasefire largely took hold across Syria on Tuesday, although there were some reported violations and deaths.

The truce was brokered by the US and Russia and began at sundown on Monday, the start of the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha, it is designed to allow aid to reach besieged areas.

The Local Coordination Committees reported about 20 deaths in opposition areas amid claims of regime shelling and missiles, including in and near Aleppo city. A pro-opposition activist collected 27 claims of regime attacks, mainly in Aleppo and Hama Province but also in southern Syria.

A pro-regime website said the Syrian military and foreign allies had attacked rebel positions to the southwest of Aleppo. Fighting was also reported in northern Hama Province, where rebels have taken towns and villages and moved within 10 km (6 miles) of Hama city in an offensive this month.

However, Russian and regime airstrikes ceased on Tuesday.

UN envoy Staffan de Mistura was optimistic, saying it should soon be possible to send aid to Aleppo, including opposition districts in the east of the city:

There is no doubt a significant drop in violence. Sources on the ground, which do matter, including inside Aleppo city, said the situation has dramatically improved with no air strikes.

A “senior US Administration official” echoed in a conference call with journalists:

one thing we can say with confidence – and it’s been backed up by what the Staffan de Mistura said, what opposition sources have said, and what civilians in Syria have told us – is there has been a significant drop in the level of violence.

Not to zero, obviously, and we would like to see an even greater drop in the days to come.

De Mistura said “access [to aid] should be taking place very, very soon”, but added that the UN is still waiting for the Assad regime to issue letters authorizing the deliveries.

Meanwhile two aid convoys, each of around 20 trucks, crossed into northern Syria from the Turkish border town of Cilvegozu, about 40 km (25 miles) west of Aleppo. The convoy is carrying food and flour.

The Assad regime has said that it will reject any aid deliveries to Aleppo, especially from Turkey, not coordinated through itself.

De Mistura said, ““We need to do more homework,” while a senior US official said there were some “technical issues” to be resolved before the trucks could proceed:

We have spent much of today pressing the Russians and, through the Russians, pressing the regime. The UN wanted to make sure the trucks go through unhindered by the regime and unthreatened by the opposition. And we hope to get that done today.

Russian Propaganda Tries to Tarnish Rebels

Even as the ceasefire was being implemented, Russia was pursuing its campaign to denigrate the Syrian opposition and rebels.

Under the arrangement, the US and Russia could confer on airstrikes against the Islamic State and the jihadists of Jabhat Fatah al-Sham, formerly Jabhat al-Nusra. However, Russia and the Assad regime are supposed to refrain from attacks on rebel factions.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday:

According to media reports, leaders of 21 armed opposition groups in Syria, including Ahrar al-Sham, have refused to obey by the provisions of the truce that came into effect from September 12. These groups plan to continue armed confrontation with the Syrian government to the last.

The Ministry did not provide the “media reports” or any evidence of the supposed violations. Instead, it pursued the vilification of the factions:

In conditions when the Russian-U.S. agreements paving the way for an end of the fratricidal conflict are beginning to be realized in the long-suffering Syria, it is necessary to spare no effort not to let extremists and their supporters, who openly declare they are not going to break away from their former allies in the terrorist group Jabhat Fatah al-Sham, impose their own bloody agenda on Syria.

However, the Russian campaign was hindered not only by the lack of information but by the apparent staging of a video — in the middle of a Defense Ministry news conference — to show a rebel “attack” on Russian forces monitoring a key road north of Aleppo city:

As well as ducking from the supposed rebel fire, Colonel Sergei Kopitsyn of the “Russian Center for Reconciliation” in Aleppo claimed that six people were killed and ten more wounded by rebel fire overnight on Monday/Tuesday.

Despite the question marks over the authenticity of the “shelling”, some leading outlets highlighted the incident without any scepticism — The Washington Post headlined, “Watch a Russian Officer Dodge Bullets Live on TV While Praising Syria’s Cease-fire”: “The event became a reminder of the enormity of the challenge of bringing peace to Syria.”

Saudi Arabia Welcomes Ceasefire; Iran is Cautious

Saudi Arabia, a leading backer of the Syrian rebels, has endorsed the ceasefire.

A Foreign Ministry official, quoted by Saudi State news agency SPA, said that Riyadh welcomed the agreement which would ease the humanitarian suffering.

The official added that Saudi Arabia was monitoring the truce and that “it was important for Bashar al-Assad’s regime and its allies to adhere to this agreement….[so] it leads to a resumption of the political process in Syria”.

He said the process should be “in accordance with the Geneva 1 communique” of June 2012, which called for a transitional governing authority.

President Assad has rejected a transitional authority and his departure from power.

Rebel factions have not formally accepted the US-Russian arrangements for the ceasefire, but appear to be observing it.

Iran, a key ally of the Assad regime, has modified its acceptance of the truce.

The Supreme Leader’s top aide, Ali Akbar Velayati, refined the initial endorsement by the Foreign Ministry:

The ceasefire and the cessation of fighting is to everyone’s liking. However, if the price is that the enemies of the Syrian government and nation exploit the ceasefire, it will not only be useless, but also harmful….

The ceasefire should not be used as a vacuum, such that terrorist groups like [Jabhat] al Nusra have time to strengthen their objectives.

The Defense Minister, Brig. Gen. Hossein Dehghan, followed Velayati’s lead:

All parties must submit to the will of the legitimate government of Syria….It is possible that the sponsors of the Takfiri terrorists might use this opportunity [of the ceasefire] to equip the terrorists.

US Military Challenges Kerry-Lavrov Deal

The US military has effectively challenged US Secretary of State John Kerry over the ceasefire deal with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, holding back agreement for a US-Russian center for sharing of intelligence for airstrikes.

The center is to be established if the ceasefire holds over the next week.

However, on Tuesday, Lt. Gen. Jeffrey L. Harrigian, the commander of the US Air Forces Central Command, told reporters in a conference call, “I’m not saying yes or no. It would be premature to say that we’re going to jump right into it.”

Before last Saturday’s announcement of the deal, Defense Secretary Ash Carter and senior officials let it be known that they were dubious about any intelligence-sharing with the Russians.

“I remain skeptical about anything to do with the Russians,” Gen. Philip M. Breedlove, who recently stepped down as NATO’s supreme allied commander, said Monday. “There are a lot of concerns about putting [this] out there where our folks are.”


Israel Hits Regime Position in Southwest for 5th Day in Row

The Israeli military said on Wednesday that it has struck regime positions in southwest Syria for the fifth day in a row.

Israel began airstrikes last week in Quneitra Province, saying that cross-border rockets had hit the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

On Tuesday, the Syrian military tried to counter the strikes by saying that it had downed an Israeli warplanes and drone. The Israel Defense Forces denied that either of two attacking fighter jets had been hit, and the Assad regime produced no evidence to back up its assertion.


Almost 100 Killed in Pro-Assad Airstrikes in Idlib City Last Saturday

Pro-opposition activists report that the death toll from last Saturday’s pro-Assad bombing of a market in Idlib city has risen to 96, with 150 wounded.

About 200 people were killed on Saturday, as the Russian and Syrian airforces stepped up attacks on northwest Syria ahead of Monday’s ceasefire.

See Syria Daily, Sept 11: 164 Killed as Russia & Regime Bomb Before Ceasefire