Syria’s opposition tell UN continued govt truce violation would hamper peace talks

Syria’s opposition said that what it called continued violations by the Syrian government and its allies of a US-Russia truce deal would make the resumption of UN-backed negotiations “unattainable”.

In a letter to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, the opposition also said violations would undermine “international efforts to guarantee the continuation of the truce and will lead to the collapse of the UN-adopted political process.

Syrian military sources deny violations.

“The goal of accepting the temporary truce is to..help in implementing humanitarian articles of UNSG concord 2254. However, the lack of progress in this would push us to look for other ways to protect Syrian people. So there must a firm security council position on this before its too late.”

Under the deal accepted by President Bashar al-Assad’s government and many of his foes, fighting should cease so aid can reach civilians and talks can open to end a war that has killed more than 250,000 people and made 11 million homeless.

UN Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura says he intends to restart peace talks on March 7, provided the halt in fighting largely holds.

source: Reuters