Diplomatic efforts help bring about cease-fire agreement and at least one day of peace to Syria.
Violations reported, but cease-fire said to be holding
BEIRUT — A tentative cease-fire brokered by the United States and Russia appeared to be holding Saturday in Syria, despite reports of breaches from both sides in the conflict.
The so-called cessation of hostilities, which began at midnight Friday Damascus time, is widely regarded as the most ambitious diplomatic effort to date to bring a pause to the fighting in Syria, which has been wracked by violence for almost five years.
The Syrian conflict has resulted in more than 200,000 deaths, widespread destruction and the displacement of millions of people, helping to trigger a refugee crisis in Europe.
Russia, which intervened in the war last year on the side of the government of President Bashar Assad, said it had suspended all airstrikes in areas where armed rebels had vowed to join the cease-fire. Moscow’s air onslaught in recent months has routed opposition formations and helped turn the tide of battle decisively in favor of the Syrian government.
A major rebel coalition, the Saudi-based High Negotiations Committee, said almost 100 armed factions had agreed to join the truce for a two-week period. Opposition commanders are generally wary of the pause, which was the result of intensive negotiations between Washington and Moscow.
The Islamic State group, which is excluded from the truce as a terrorist organization, was blamed for a number of attacks Saturday across Syria, including a pair of suicide bombings in northern Hama province that killed six, Syria’s official media reported. Islamic State forces also attacked the northern border city of Tal Abyad, which is under the control of U.S.backed Kurdish fighters, according to various accounts.
Also excluded from the cease-fire is the Nusra Front, the official al-Qaida franchise in Syria.
The Nusra leadership has urged rebels to step up attacks against government forces. The militant Sunni Islamist faction views the cease-fire as a ploy aimed at reaching a negotiated settlement to the conflict that will allow Assad’s secular government to remain in power.
Both the opposition and the government alleged violations of the truce, but none appeared to threaten the cease-fire accord.
The official Syrian media reported “terrorist” shelling of civilian areas of Damascus, the capital, and of government-held zones in the northern city of Aleppo, which has been split between state and rebel control for almost four years. At least one person was killed in Aleppo, the official Syrian media reported.
Various rebel spokes- men alleged scattered violations of the truce but generally agreed that government attacks had been scaled down since the cease-fire came into effect.
U.S. officials, including President Barack Obama, have backed the truce plan but have also expressed doubts about whether it would hold. Last week, Obama noted that “there are plenty of reasons for skepticism,” and Secretary of State John Kerry said U.S. officials were contemplating an unspecified “Plan B” should the ceasefire fail.
The pause in fighting is also meant to expedite delivery of humanitarian aid to civilians throughout Syria. Aid officials say the distribution of food and other staples to besieged and remote areas in Syria has picked up in recent days, even before the cease-fire. Humanitarian groups are hopeful that aid deliveries will be expanded in coming days.
On Friday, the United Nations Security Council backed the truce. Staffan de Mistura, the special U.N. envoy for Syria, said he expected “hiccups” in the cease-fire process, but added that peace talks between government and opposition forces would resume in Geneva on March 7.