Syrian rebel groups cautiously welcome upcoming ceasefire

A rebel fighter walks next to a tank in Jubata al-Khashab, in Quneitra countryside, Syria September 11, 2016. (Reuters)

Some Syrian rebel groups have expressed concern that an upcoming ceasefire in the war-torn country is a “trap” which will largely benefit Bashar al Assad’s government.
A nationwide cessation of hostilities, brokered by the US and Russia, is due to begin at sundown today (about 4.45pm UK time) – yet some rebels claim the deal will only increase the suffering of the Syrian people.
In a letter to the US, the Free Syrian Army said it plans to “co-operate positively” and respect the ceasefire, but wrote that a lack of enforcement mechanisms and a lack of provision for some of the country’s most besieged areas were worrying.
The FSA also claimed that the exclusion of the Jabhat Fateh al Sham group – a former al Qaeda affiliate known as the Nusra Front – could be used by Russia as a pretext to bomb other rebel groups.

Reacting to its exclusion from the truce deal, a spokesman for Jabhat Fateh al Sham tweeted: “It’s simple – the Russian-American deal is intended to eliminate those who protect Syrians.”
Meanwhile, the influential and ultra-conservative Ahrar al Sham group warned in a video: “A rebellious people who have fought and suffered for six years cannot accept half-solutions.”
Previous peace agreements have crumbled in a matter of weeks – and in the past, the US has accused Bashar al Assad and his allies of attacking opposition groups and civilians when ceasefires were meant to be in place.
The days leading up to the latest cessation of hostilities have been marred by violence as the government and rebel factions attempt to improve their positions.
Over the past 40 days, more than 2,000 people have died as a result of fighting in Aleppo – with a human rights group claiming that 700 civilians and 160 children were among those killed.
And in Idlib, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 58 people were killed in a series of bombings, including one on a vegetable market, with 13 children among the dead.
Footage showed the corpses of a charred child and other victims being pulled mangled bodies from beneath rubble.
“The market was full of shoppers going to buy presents for their kids, they were all civilians,” said Salem Idlibi, a civil defence worker.
If the planned cessation of hostilities holds for seven days, it will be followed by an unlikely military partnership between the US and Russia to target Islamic State and al Qaeda.
US Secretary of State John Kerry said the deal is a potential “turning point” in the long-running civil war which has killed as many as 500,000 people and displaced millions of others.
However, he warned the plan could be described as nothing more than an opportunity until it is successfully enforced.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the deal would allow efficient co-operation in the struggle against terrorism, and expand humanitarian access to Syria’s worst-hit towns and cities.
Turkey, which made a major military incursion into the north of Syria two weeks ago, said it was preparing aid for Aleppo once the truce was in place.
UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson welcomed the plan, adding a call for “all parties to the Syria conflict and all countries with influence upon them to do what is needed to end violence and lift sieges”.