Editorial Note: The following news reports are summaries from original sources. They may also include corrections of Arabic names and political terminology. Comments are in parentheses.

 

Syria Eid Holiday Ceasefire Shattered as Violence Erupts

France 24, (AP), 26/10/2012

A truce between the Syrian regime and rebel fighters was violated on Friday when heavy fighting broke out around a military base, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. The ceasefire was brokered to coincide with the Muslim holiday of Eid.

By News Wires (text)

Fighting raged near a military base in Syria’s north as a ceasefire in the bloody civil war was supposed to go into effect Friday at dawn, activists said, illustrating the difficulty of enforcing even a limited truce coinciding with a Muslim holiday.

Elsewhere, violence appeared to die down, and thousands of protesters took advantage of the lull to mount some of the largest anti-regime demonstrations in months.

The truce, proposed by U.N.-Arab League envoy Lakhdar Brahimi and endorsed by the Security Council, is set for only the four days of the Eid al-Adha holiday, has no monitoring mechanism and no stated plans for its aftermath.

The first serious disruption involved a radical Islamic group, Jabhat al-Nusra, that rejected the cease-fire from the outset. The group clashed Friday with regime forces for control of a military base outside of a strategic town on the road to the northern city of Aleppo, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which relies on a network of activists.

Complex truce

Opposition fighters seized Maaret al-Numan, which lies along the main highway between Aleppo and Damascus, earlier this month. Their presence has disrupted the ability of the Syrian army to send supplies and reinforcements to the northwest, where troops are bogged down in a stalemate with the rebels in Aleppo, Syria’s largest city.

The latest fighting showed the complexity of the situation, with the badly fragmented opposition sending mixed signals about the truce, some endorsing it but others rejecting it as irrelevant.

President Bashar Assad’s government accepted the truce but left significant loopholes, declaring it would respond to any rebel attack or attempts by foreign forces to intervene.

Also Friday, the army fired artillery shells in several areas, including in Aleppo and suburbs of Damascus, but overall the level of fighting appeared to drop significantly.

If the truce holds, it would be the first actual halt in 19 months of fighting that began with mass demonstrations but has transformed into a full-blown civil war with sectarian overtones and tens of thousands of dead.

Earlier attempts by mediators to bring about a cease-fire failed, though elements of both sides had accepted truce proposals.

Protesters take to streets

The Observatory said protesters rallied after holiday prayers in Aleppo, in central province of Homs and the city of Hama. Demonstrators also took to the streets in the suburbs of Damascus, and across the southern province of Deraa, where the uprising began. Three people were wounded when troops tried to disperse protesters in Deraa, the group said.

Activists said three people were killed in shelling of the Damascus suburb of Harasta and two people died as a result of sniper fire. There were no reports of clashes or protests at the time of the attacks, the Observatory said.

The demonstrations were reminiscent of the mass protests that ignited the civil war. In recent months, gatherings have been smaller, a result of a brutal crackdown by the Assad regime.

More than 35,000 people have been killed, including more than 8,000 government troops, since the uprising against Assad began in March 2011, according to activists.

The Observatory said overnight clashes between troops and rebels took place in Homs, in Deir el-Zour in the country’s east and in the city of Aleppo, the country’s largest. At least seven people were killed in the fighting, including three rebels, the group said. Six soldiers were wounded.

================

 

The regime of President Bashar al-Assad and Syria's main rebel force have agreed to a ceasefire beginning Friday morning to coincide with the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha. The regime has reserved the right to respond to rebel attacks.

By News Wires (text)

Syria's army and main rebel force said they will cease fire on Friday, in line with an internationally backed truce during a Muslim holiday, but both reserved the right to respond to any aggression.

A peace initiative by UN and Arab League peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi calls for a truce during the four-day Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha from Friday marking the end of the hajj pilgrimage.

It was backed this week by the United Nations Security Council, and a spokesman for UN chief Ban Ki-moon said "the world is now watching" to make sure both sides stick by their commitment.

The army announced it would adhere to the ceasefire in a statement read on television.

"On the occasion of Eid al-Adha, military operations will cease on Syrian territory as of Friday morning, until Monday the 29th," it said.

But it also said the army would react if "armed terrorist groups continue to fire on civilians and government troops, attack public and private property and use car bombs and improvised explosive devices."

It also warned of a response if rebels "strengthen their current positions or continue to receive reinforcements and ammunition" and to any fighters crossing from neighbouring countries.

The Free Syrian Army, chief among many rebel groups battling President Bashar al-Assad's forces, responded positively soon afterwards, saying it too would lay down its weapons as long as regime troops adhere to the ceasefire.

"We will respect the ceasefire from tomorrow morning if the Syrian army does the same," said General Mustafa al-Sheikh of the FSA, which had previously said it doubts Damascus would stand by any commitment.

"But if they fire a single shot, we will respond with 100. So we reserve the right to respond," he said by telephone from Turkey.

He cautioned, however, that he could not speak on behalf of all rebel groups.

"There is not a unified command for all the factions. We speak on behalf of a big enough number of fighters, but there are other armed factions who follow other commands," Sheikh said.

An April ceasefire announced by Brahimi's predecessor, former UN secretary general Kofi Annan, failed to take hold.

If the latest one holds, it would mark the first real breakthrough in halting -- even temporarily -- the 19-month conflict that rights groups say has killed more than 35,000 people.

Eid al-Adha starts with prayers at dawn on Friday, expected at around 5:30 am local time in Syria, or 0230 GMT.

'War crimes committed'

Shortly before Thursday's announcements, there were no signs of a slowdown in the fighting, with rebels moving into a strategically important Kurdish neighbourhood in the main battleground city of Aleppo.

Residents in Aleppo's Ashrafiyeh district said about 200 rebels had moved in to the area for the first time.

One said the rebels, who arrived on vehicles mounted with heavy machineguns and bearing the markings of the Liwa al-Tawhid main rebel unit, made it clear they were settling in for Eid despite the ceasefire promises.

"Snipers have set up in the buildings and 50 armed men, dressed in black and wearing headbands with Islamic slogans, entered a school near me. I heard them tell the residents: 'We are here to spend Eid with you'," he told AFP.

"I am waiting for things to calm down before leaving," he said.

Rebels and troops were also battling in the mainly Christian district of Seryan just south of Ashrafiyeh, said residents.

At least 100 people were killed as violence continued across Syria on Thursday -- 43 civilians, 37 soldiers and 20 rebels, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Fierce clashes raged around the Wadi Daif military base between troops and rebels, including fighters from the jihadist Al-Nusra Front, while the army shelled the strategic town of Maaret al-Numan nearby, said the watchdog.

Al-Nusra, which has claimed several deadly suicide bombings against the Assad regime, is among the other armed opposition groups that have already refused to accept the ceasefire, labelling it a "trick."

The United States also voiced scepticism, with US envoy to the UN Susan Rice saying many would doubt the regime's word "given Assad's record of broken promises."

Still, Brahimi stressed that "if we succeed with this modest initiative, a longer ceasefire can be built" that would allow the launch of a political process.

Brahimi said he wanted the ceasefire to help create political space for dialogue and for aid to flow in, particularly to Aleppo, Homs in the centre and Idlib in the northwest.

And the UN's refugee agency said it was ready to send emergency aid to thousands of Syrian families in previously inaccessible areas if the ceasefire holds.

The international community boosted pressure on the regime, meanwhile, with UN rights investigators saying they would go after senior officials responsible for atrocities.

Former war crimes prosecutor Carla del Ponte, who joined the UN Commission of Inquiry on Syria last month, said that without a doubt "crimes against humanity and war crimes" were being committed in Syria.

Del Ponte said she was focusing on determining "the high-ranking political and military figures (responsible for) these crimes".

(AFP)