Eleanor Service|
On only the second day of its existence, the incredibly delicate truce in Syria has already allegedly been breached. Russia and anti-government rebels have both reported breaches of the truce.
Activists are saying that in northern Syria several sites have been attacked by Russian planes.
Russia has not confirmed any military deployment on Sunday, and is saying that it has identified nine breaches of the truce already.
As part of a US-Russian plan, it was agreed that the hostilities would cease. Russia says that in general it is holding. In the five years of the war, this is the first ceasefire.
In this fight against President Bashar al-Assad, upwards of 250,000 people have already been killed.
Millions more have been driven from their houses, and humanitarian organisations are wanting to use the truce to bring aid to besieged parts of the country.
Syria’s opponents has claimed that 15 violations of the ceasefire have been committed by the government side, which Russia supports.
The Syrian group ‘the High Negotiations Committee’ said it would be sending a letter of formal complaint to the UN, and to other world powers.
But, despite the violations “here and there”, the HNC said that it was “positive to see people getting relief …to be safe, and free from fear”.
According to Syrian activists, the target of the air strikes in northern Syria, near Aleppo, was actually Nusra Front. Nusra Front is linked with al-Qaeda.
The truce, encompasses Syrian Government as well as rebel forces, but not the group known as Islamic State (IS), or Nusra Front. Therefore, an attack on them would not qualify as a breach of the truce.
Mark Lowen, from the BBC, reported from the Turkish border that the villages also contain fighters from the opposition supported by Western parties, as territorial control in Syria is often confused, and uncertain.
Lowen has also said, that because of the condition of the ceasefire agreement, it is possible that attacking Nusra Front was actually a cover for attacking the rebels.
One of the breaches reported by the Russian Military was, what is being described as, a “cross-border” attack from Turkey, close to Tal Abyad. The US has been asked by Russia to look into this.
The US military has said that it had continued to attack IS targets in Syria on Saturday. These attacks included 10 air strikes, near Tal Abyad.
The truce, also being called “the cessation of hostilities”, came into force at midnight, on Saturday (22:00 GMT, on Friday).
Russia’s Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov, and the US Secretary of State, John Kerry, conversed via phone on Saturday. They welcomed the truce, and, according to Moscow, talked about ways to support it through military co-operation.
The UN special envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, has said that peace talks will resume on 7 March, if the truce “largely holds”. He also said that he is convinced that there will be “no shortage of attempts to undermine this process”.
The ceasefire was organised by Russia and the US, and is being backed by a UN resolution. A prior attempt at peace talks was carried out in early February, taking place in Geneva, but fell apart after no progress being made.
The resolution provided by the UN lists roughly 30 areas that desperately need aid, including western and eastern Aleppo, and the city of Deir al-Zour in the east of Syria, which is under siege by IS.
According to the HNC, almost 100 rebel groups have agreed to respect the truce.
Although, the HNC issued a warning to the Syrian government and its allies, saying they were not to use the,
“proposed text to continue the hostile operations against the opposition factions under the excuse of fighting terrorism”.
The President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, says his forces are targeting IS, Nusra Front and other extremist groups stated as legitimate targets by the UN Security Council.
However, Russia has been widely accused, over the course of its campaign in Syria, of attacking smaller rebel groups fighting President Bashar al-Assad, who is an ally of the Kremlin.
The truce is seeming to hold at the moment, but it is on shaky ground and many people that think that it will collapse at any moment. This conflict has claimed thousands of lives already, and has lead to many more people being injured. Millions have had to flee their home country for fear of being killed. Until peace is reached, the people of Syria will be living in constant fear of losing their lives. A resolution must be reached.
