Syria ceasefire: First death since the agreement started, more breaches

Syria ceasefire: First death since the agreement started, more breaches
Men and civil defence members look for survivors after an airstrike on a hospital in the town of Meles, western Idlib city in rebel-held Idlib province, Syria August 6, 2016. REUTERS/Ammar Abdullah

After three days which saw a marked decrease in violence and no deaths in Syria, the first civilians since the start of the ceasefire agreement were killed on Thursday, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Under the ceasefire agreement, made by US and Russia who back opposing sides in the five-year-old war, a nationwide truce from sundown on Monday was promised,as well as improved access for humanitarian aid and joint military targeting of hardline Islamist groups.

Three more died and 13 were injured in air strikes in rebel-held Idlib province on Friday, the Observatory said. A number of shells were also fired by rebels into two besieged Shi’ite villages.

Clashes hit areas east of Damascus on Friday. Residents in the city center were woken up by a large explosion, a witness said, and shells fell near its eastern limits.

The Britain-based Observatory said the violence stemmed from clashes between rebels and government forces in the Jobar district on Damascus’s eastern outskirts. Each side said the other had attacked first.

While the world is trying badly to find a political solution for the Syrian crisis, Assad made a new statement that reveals his true intentions. He vowed again this week to use the military force to win back the entire country, which has been torn intoo areas controlled by rebels, Islamic state militants and Kurdish militias.

Blocking aids into Aleppo

The main dispute of the truce so far is over aid to Aleppo. Pro-government forces encircled the rebel zone this month, trapping an estimated 300,000 civilians there with no way to bring in food.

The United Nations has pointed the finger at the government for holding up aid, saying it asked for permission to reach all besieged areas and was denied letters guaranteeing access.

“In order to actually initiate the actual movement of these convoys we need the facilitation letters. They have not come,” U.N. humanitarian affairs spokesman Jens Laerke said in Geneva. “It’s highly frustrating.”

Both sides accuse each other of violating the truce and failing to withdraw from the road that would be used to deliver aid to Aleppo. Moscow said on Friday the Syrian army had withdrawn from the Castello Road but returned its troops there after they came under fire from rebels.

Rebel groups in Aleppo said they had seen no such withdrawal from the government side, and would not pull back from their own positions around the road until it did so.

The Syrian crisis began as a peaceful demonstration against the injustice in Syria. Assad regime used to fire power and violence against the civilians and led to armed resistance. 450.000 Syrians lost their lives in the past five years according to UN estimates, and more than 12 million have lost their homes. Syria