Aleppo ceasefire plan in danger as Assad's troops fail to close off city

Rebels claim they have repelled government offensive and captured scores of soldiers, putting UN-brokered truce in doubt

The Guardian

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A Syrian regime push to encircle Aleppo in advance of an attempted UN-brokered ceasefire appears to have failed, with opposition groups insisting that supply lines remained open and that scores of troops and militiamen had been killed.

The regime’s offensive has been seen in the opposition-held north as a death knell for the UN deal, negotiated by its special envoy Staffan de Mistura, for a six-week ceasefire in the city.

President Bashar al-Assad’s government endorsed De Mistura’s plan but rebels say his forces’ offensive proves he never intended to negotiate in good faith.

“After all the promises and initiatives from the international community and De Mistura, and before him Lakhdar Brahimi and so on, the revolutionaries no longer have confidence except in the barrel of the gun,” said Saleh al-Adnani, a pro-opposition activist based in Aleppo. 

Syria’s second largest city has long been a key battleground in the war, now entering its fourth year. Both the Syrian regime and Islamic State (Isis) covet control of the historic city, and have repeatedly attempted to cut off rebel supply lines from Turkey to the north. 

The city is a redoubt for conservative Islamist fighters, wedged between the al-Qaida affiliate Jabhat al-Nusra, which has a presence in the northern countryside, and Isis to the east. The Syrian rebel group Islamic Front ousted Isis from the area in January last year, losing more than 1,500 members in the process.

The ceasefire would have been the first of a series of “local freezes” that would have halted the immediate fighting, seen as the first step in a possible negotiated settlement to end the crisis. More than 210,000 people have died in the uprising.

The Syrian regime had said it had encircled the “terrorists” in the city after cutting off their remaining supply route to Turkey – a potential disaster for rebel fighters.

The monitoring group said on Thursday that 90 pro-regime fighters had been killed in the offensive, but on Friday morning the rebels claimed that the number was higher. In contrast with the initial, triumphant statements, the Syrian military was silent on the latest battles in Aleppo. But by Friday the rebels appeared to have reversed the advance, taking captive 51 pro-regime fighters, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Videos posted by the Sham Legion, a rebel group involved in the city’s defence, appeared to show dozens of captives taken in the fighting.

Rebels said regime forces have been pushed out from most of the villages in the northern countryside. 

The regime offensive is backed by fighters from the Lebanese group Hezbollah. The various nationalities of the captives highlight the complexity of the conflict, which has drawn thousands of foreign fighters to all sides and alarmed western powers.

But though fighting has often raged around Aleppo, the latest round is significant because of its damage to the latest initiative to end the violence.

Adnani said the opposition in the city would “definitely not” accept De Mistura’s plan after the latest offensive, saying rebels no longer had any confidence “neither in the regime nor in De Mistura”.

And a spokesperson for the Sham Legion said: “The question about De Mistura’s ceasefire plan is unanswerable at the moment because of the ongoing battles in Aleppo Northern Countryside. This means that all the factions don’t trust the regime in this matter.”

But De Mistura’s office said he would continue to pursue the local freezes plan despite the ongoing violence.

“We are aware and are following with immense concern reports on the fighting around the city of Aleppo,” said Juliette Touma, the spokesperson for De Mistura. “If anything, the ongoing fighting in these areas is a stark reminder that a freeze in hostilities is more needed than ever.”

The opposition in the southern front, the other key battlefield in the country, was reticent after the regime offensive, saying Assad could not negotiate in good faith.

“No negotiations and no to ceasefire plans with Assad as a party to it,” said Ibrahim Noureddine, a spokesperson for the First Legion, a rebel group with more than 10,000 fighters in southern Syria. “Assad is the one who violates. We tried him in the Damascus countryside, in Sayyed Zaynab, in al-Waer in Homs. Agreements are concluded with the regime and the regime violates them.

“We do not believe in De Mistura’s plan, and De Mistura proved his failure.”