Air strikes in Syria as world leaders hail ‘real progress’
PARIS: World leaders hailed ‘real progress’ in Syria on Friday, but fresh air strikes showed the fragility of the weekold truce as the opposition cast doubt on its attendance at talks next week in Geneva.
Warplanes struck a key rebel bastion east of the Syrian capital for the first time since the USRussia brokered truce - which excludes the fight against jihadists - began last weekend, a monitor said.
“Two air strikes hit the edge of the town of Douma in Eastern Ghouta and one person was killed,” said Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Britainbased Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
He said either Syrian or Russian planes carried out the strikes. Eastern Ghouta had been regularly bombarded by government forces, but has been relatively calm since the ceasefire came into force, which has also allowed the United Nations began delivering aid to three rebel towns in the area.
British, French, German and EU foreign ministers met in Paris to discuss the truce, saying there had been ‘real progress’.
“This cessation of hostilities is by no means perfect but it has reduced the level of violence, it has created an opportunity for some humanitarian access,” said British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond.
Protesters in opposition-held areas — buoyed by the ceasefire — also took to the streets for the first time in years to demonstrate against the regime under the slogan “The Revolution Continues!”.
Waving the three-starred tricolour flag that has become the uprising’s emblem, demonstrators in oppositionheld areas of Aleppo, Damascus, Daraa and Homs called for Assad’s downfall.
Late Friday, a group of rebel fighters seized control of a crossing on the Iraqi border, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
The border point at Al-Tanaf, which is controlled on the Iraqi side by the Islamic State group.
The quartet of foreign ministers said the focus now was on convincing all parties to return to UN-brokered peace talks in Switzerland tentatively set for next Wednesday.
“We want a speedy resumption of the negotiations in Geneva, but two conditions must be fulfilled: access for all Syrians to humanitarian aid, and full respect of the ceasefire,” said French Foreign Minister JeanMarc Ayrault. — AFP