The FSA and rebel groups delegation to the Astana meeting said that the talks must focus solely on bolstering the ceasefire agreement brokered by Turkey and Russia last month. The Assad regime forces and the Iranian-backed militias continue to violate the truce, especially in Rural Damascus, rural Homs and Dara’a.
“No issues will be discussed until a total end to hostilities, violations and violence is declared,” member of the armed opposition’s delegation Mamoun Haj Moussa said on Tuesday. He pointed out that the Assad regime’s delegation are lying and showing total disregard for participants in the Astana meeting.
The talks will not move to the next stage until a real ceasefire is declared nationwide, most importantly in the Wadi Barada valley, the town of Majaja in rural Dara’a, eastern Ghouta, and in the Alwaer district in Homs, Haj Moussa stressed.
Activists recorded at least 20 violations of the truce by regime forces and their allied foreign militias across Syria on Monday. The violations claimed the lives of nearly 9 people, including children.
Haj Moussa pointed out that the opposition “is testing Russia’s transformation from a hostile party to a guarantor of the agreement and whether it can force the Assad regime and its allies to abide by the ceasefire.”
“Russia has thus far proved unable to keep regime forces and the Iranian militias under control. Russia, therefore, invited Iran to the Astana meeting to force it commit to the ceasefire,” Haj Moussa said. (Source: Syrian Coalition’s Media Office + Anadolu Agency)
