Members of Syrian opposition group said on Monday that a ceasefire brokered by the United States and Russia never took hold and called on the world to put an end to the “criminality” of the Assad regime.
Assad regime’s military on Monday declared that the seven-day ceasefire was over and accused the rebels of breaching the ceasefire and using it to strengthen their positions.
After that aid trucks near Aleppo were targeted and destroying completely late on Monday and civilian areas were heavily bombed. 32 civilians died in these attacks.
“There was no ceasefire to begin with for us to say whether it failed or succeeded,” Riad Hijab, general coordinator of the High Negotiations Committee, told reporters.
His comments came after the Assad regime declared that a week-long ceasefire was over and air raids hit aid trucks near the city of Aleppo.
Speaking after reiterating the opposition’s vision for a Syria post-President Bashar al-Assad, Hijab said there had been countless U.N. resolutions and efforts to bring an end to “Syrian bloodshed” but that there had been nothing to show for it.
“The world is just watching. Enough is enough. The world has to abide by its responsibilities to bring an end to the criminality of the regime,” said Hijab, a former prime minister under Assad.
Read more: Assad regime, Syria ceasefire is officially over
The opposition High Negotiations Committee spokesman Riad Nassan Agha said the regime side had never committed to the truce: “Air raids by Russian and Syrian warplanes, which haven’t stopped, suggest the truce never started in the first place.”
Monzer Makhous, a spokesman for the HNC, said it was clear the ceasefire was not being respected, although he did not want to call it completely dead.
“There is a tiny hope,” he said.
Anas Abdah, the head of the opposition Syrian National Coalition, said ultimately Russia was responsible for the truce’s failure.
“The regime does not respect the terms and conditions of the truce. Unfortunately, Russia also does not respect it and that must have basically given the regime the go-ahead for these violations,” Abdah told Reuters.
Abdah added that he believed Moscow was not interested in any kind of agreement to begin with and had not been seeking a political solution. This, he said, had been compounded by the United States not “flexing its muscles.”
“I don’t know whether this is because we’re in a lame duck period in the political landscape in the United States,” he said.
Assad reigme military blamed rebel groups for undermining the ceasefire that aimed to bring the country’s bloody five-year civil war to an end.
“It was assumed that the ceasefire will present a real chance to end the bloodshed, but terrorist groups did not adhere to any of the points of the agreement on a ceasefire, the number of violations on their part has exceeded 300,” reads the statement published by SANA news.
Rebel groups countered by accusing the Assad regime forces of violating the cease-fire, the AP said. The United Nations said the Assad regime has obstructed the delivery of aid, a key component of the deal.
Last week Assad regime’s forces breached the agreement by attacking rebel-held areas in Idlib.
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.
Three more died and 13 were injured in air strikes in rebel-held Idlib province on Friday.
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
