Syria Opposition says government wrecking ceasefire deal

A senior official from Syria’s main Opposition group said on Monday that the first major attempt to halt the fighting after nearly five years of war was in danger of total collapse because of attacks by government forces.

The cessation of hostilities drawn up by Washington and Moscow faced “complete nullification” because Syrian government attacks were violating the agreement, the official of the Saudibacked opposition High Negotiations Committee said.

France said there were reports of attacks on Opposition forces in breach of the deal, which came into force on Saturday, and countries backing the Syria peace process met to try to clarify the situation. UN Secretary-General Ban Kimoon said the pause in the fighting was largely holding, despite some incidents that he hoped would be contained. The Kremlin said the process was under way, although it had always been clear it would not be easy.

The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the cessation was largely holding with casualties greatly reduced compared to before the agreement took effect.

The cessation of hostilities, the first of its kind since the war began in 2011, is a less formal arrangement than a ceasefire. It is meant to allow peace talks to resume and aid to reach besieged communities.

Aid trucks carrying nonfood items such as blankets on Monday entered Mouadamiya, a suburb of Damascus under siege by government forces.

Asaad al-Zoubi, head of the HNC’s delegation to the peace talks, gave a gloomy assessment of the truce. “We are not facing a violation of the truce... we are facing a complete nullification,” he said.

“I believe the international community has totally failed in all its experiments, and must take real, practical measures towards the (Syrian) regime,” Mr Zoubi said.

Meanwhile, Nato secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg said on Monday that a fragile truce in Syria appeared to be largely holding but the alliance was concerned by a Russian military build-up in Syria. “We are concerned,” he said, “about the significant Russian military build-up we have seen in Syria.”