Syrian cease-fire goes into effect
Islamic State not included; many doubt war will stop
BEIRUT — An internationally brokered cease-fire went into effect early Saturday in Syria amid widespread doubts that the truce would halt the fighting or bring the fractured nation closer to peace after almost five years of war.
Fierce fighting was reported in several areas of the country as various factions appeared to be seeking to maximize their gains before the cease-fire began.
Samantha Power, U.S. ambassador to the United Nation, said Friday that making the cease-fire hold was “a very big if.”
Still, a major opposition bloc, the High Negotiations Committee, said Friday that it was committed to the limited truce for two weeks. The group, based in Saudi Arabia, said it represents almost 100 opposition factions.
The Syrian government of President Bashar Assad and its principal backers, Russia and Iran, have also vowed to abide by the terms of the truce, brokered by the U.S. and Russia and endorsed Friday in a vote by the U.N. Security Council.
But the agreement does not include Islamic State or the Nusra Front, both of which have been deemed terrorist organizations by the U.N.
Both the United States and Russia are expected to continue bombing campaigns targeting those groups.
On Friday, the leader of the Nusra Front called for intensified attacks against pro-government forces in Syria.
Staffan de Mistura, the U.N. special envoy for Syria, said Friday he plans to resume peace talks March 7 if a cessation of hostilities “largely holds.”
The last major peace effort in Syria came in 2012, when the war was still in its early stages and Kofi Annan was the U.N. special envoy for the country. The Nobel laureate and former U.N. secretary-general resigned his post, labeling the assignment “mission impossible.”
While Russia and the U.S. sit on opposite sides of the conflict, both seek to stop the threat of Islamic radicalism emanating from Syria and alleviate the humanitarian catastrophe inside the country, where more than 200,000 have been killed and entire neighborhoods have been turned to rubble.
European nations besieged by war refugees also have a strong interest in ending the conflict.
But any effort to pause the fighting faces long odds.
The multisided conflict features unusual alliances of convenience and odd bedfellows, with hundreds of factions of varying political, sectarian, ethnic and regional affiliations fighting on different sides.
Russia intervened on behalf of Assad’s government nearly five months ago and launched an air onslaught that has helped turn the tide of battle.
Assad’s forces are closing in on opposition-held eastern Aleppo, raising the prospect that the city could be reunited under government control for the first time in almost four years.
In recent weeks, fighting in the north has sent tens of thousands of Syrians fleeing to the border with Turkey, which has provided aid camps on its side of the frontier but blocked most from going into the interior.
Turkey already houses more than 2 million Syrian refugees.
Opposition groups involved in the cease-fire have voiced concern that Russian warplanes will continue targeting them as allies of the Nusra Front. The al-Qaida affiliate operates in concert with many opposition militias dubbed “moderate” by Washington.
The cease-fire will be monitored by a task force co-chaired by Russia and the U.S.