The Syrian Interim Government (SIG) said that Russia’s announcement of the establishment of a daily five-hour truce was aimed at circumventing UN Security Council Resolution 2401 and emptying the Damascus suburb of eastern Ghouta from its local people.
The UN Security Council passed a resolution calling for a 30-day ceasefire in Syria to allow UN aid agencies to deliver humanitarian aid to all those in need in the besieged areas.
Deputy Head of the Syrian Interim Government Akram Tomah said in a statement from eastern Ghouta that the Free Syrian Army groups are working to set up a unified military establishment that will be tasked with beating off the challenges facing eastern Ghouta and forming a nucleus for a national army in the future of free Syria.
Tomah pointed out that there were no areas under the control of Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham militant group which has less than 250 militants in eastern Ghouta. He noted that Russia has blocked previous attempts to evacuate those militants from the besieged Damascus suburb in order to continue to use them a pretext to forcefully displace the civilian population.
The Syrian Coalition’s political committee and head of the Syrian Negotiations Commission, Nasser al-Hariri, on Tuesday held a teleconference with leading figures in the Damascus suburb of eastern Ghouta to discuss the Assad regime and Russia’s ongoing violations of UN Security Council resolution 2401.
The two sides agreed to form a joint working room to coordinate their positions and seek the implementation of resolution 2401. Leaders in eastern Ghouta presented a list of the most urgent needs of the civilian population to be sent via the Syrian Negotiations Commission to the UN relief agencies and include these needs in the UN aid.
Both sides also agreed to exchange and document information as well as to prepare detailed reports to be presented to the UN Security Council with the aim of documenting the violations being committed by the Assad regime and its allies.
Eastern Ghouta has been subjected to ferocious onslaught by the Assad regime and its allies despite the adoption of a UN Security Council resolution calling for a cessation of hostilities. According to international organizations, the onslaught has so far claimed the lives of hundreds of civilians.
