Town of Douma is targeted shortly before US-Russian plan to halt fighting is due to take effect

This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

The main umbrella organisation for Syrian opposition groups backed by the west and Saudi Arabia has said armed groups fighting President Bashar al-Assad will respect a two-week truce beginning at midnight local time (10pm GMT).

The high negotiations committee (HNC) said nearly 100 rebel factions had agreed to the ceasefire, adding that the Syrian government and its allies must not launch attacks on the pretext of fighting terrorism.

The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, welcomed the announcement, saying that though the planned ceasefire was complex, there was no alternative.



Under the terms of the deal, armed groups had to confirm their commitment to the US or Russia no later than midday Damascus time. It was not immediately clear how many factions had refused to join the ceasefire or their military significance.



Fighting was continuing across much of western Syria on Friday morning, with heavy airstrikes reported on rebel-held areas to the east of Damascus.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 10 air raids hit Douma, in rebel-held Eastern Ghouta, and reported artillery bombardment by government forces in Hama and Homs provinces.

Fighting also resumed at dawn between rebels and government forces in the north-western province of Latakia, where the Syrian army and its allies are trying to retake territory from insurgents at the border with Turkey.



The UN security council was preparing on Friday to pass a resolution endorsing the US-Russian plan to halt the fighting and naming the key parties to the ceasefire.



The cessation of hostilities excludes Islamic State (Isis), the al-Qaida-linked al-Nusra Front and any other terrorist groups named by the security council. The intermingling of al-Nusra Front with less extreme opposition factions makes the monitoring of the ceasefire highly complex, and open to abuse.

The HNC raised the issue with US and British envoys. “We are against the terrorism in the form of Isis and Nusra, but we don’t want Russia to target the moderate factions under the excuse of targeting Nusra,” said spokesman Salem al-Meslet.

In one of the few provinces held by opposition forces, Idlib, al-Nusra Front works alongside more moderate rebel political and military groups.

Despite the flaws in the cessation plan, the UN’s special envoy to Syria, Staffan de Mistura, is due to address the security council in closed session and set out his plans for a resumption of peace talks, possibly on 7 March.

The relatively slow timetable gives time for breaches of the cessation of hostilities to be addressed and confidence built to allow humanitarian access to besieged towns.

The US and Russia are working together to produce a map setting out the physical areas that are excluded from the ceasefire, so in effect setting out territory that Russia and the Syrian government army would be permitted to continue bombing with the de facto approval of the UN.

There is also alarm that some areas largely run by the opposition Free Syrian Army may be excluded from the ceasefire. The Assad government has said it believes it will be permitted to attack rebels in Daraya, south Syria.

“If there is any ceasefire without Daraya, then in our view there is no ceasefire, because it is a Free Syrian Army stronghold,” said Issam al-Rayyes, a spokesman for the western-backed Southern Front rebel coalition.

The Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, said no one could give “100% guarantees” the ceasefire would be implemented and called on the US to end calls for Assad’s resignation as president of Syria.

The Russians have given the impression of being largely in charge of the peace process, with the US forced to see if Putin’s plan brings an end to the fighting or is instead an elaborate ruse to divide the Syrian opposition.

The draft security council resolution reiterates support for the UN-brokered peace talks and calls on all parties in the conflict to grant access to aid workers to ease the country’s worsening humanitarian crisis.

Syrian militia groups set to reveal intentions over ceasefire Read more

One of the main purposes of the cessation of hostilities is to allow aid to reach civilians, especially in besieged areas cut off from supplies.

The US president, Barack Obama, said on Thursday he was willing to give the cessation of hostilities a chance to work, but said there were plenty of reasons for scepticism.

The Obama administration has spoken of a plan B if neither the ceasefire nor the subsequent peace talks make substantive progress in three months. But there is little optimism Washington has an alternative it is prepared to implement, making de facto partition the most likely, if unwelcome, option.



