Syria ceasefire unravelling as fighting erupts near Aleppo

Syria’s partial cease-fire is unravelling, as fierce fighting between government forces and opposition fighters, including members of the al Qaeda affiliated Nusra Front, erupted Saturday outside the country’s second largest city of Aleppo.

Syria’s partial cease-fire is unravelling, as fierce fighting between government forces and opposition fighters, including members of the al Qaeda affiliated Nusra Front, erupted Saturday outside the country’s second largest city of Aleppo.

A man sits in front of a damaged building in a rebel held area of Aleppo, Syria. (REUTERS)

At least 25 pro-government and 16 opposition fighters died in clashes south of Aleppo, where the Nusra Front and rebel militias captured a hill overlooking a major highway, a Britain-based monitoring group told The Associated Press.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said fighting continued throughout the day Saturday close to the village of Tel al-Ais, which overlooks the main road connecting Aleppo with the capital, Damascus.

The coordinated rebel and Nusra Front offensive follows weeks of air raids on opposition-held areas despite a “cessation of hostilities” that came into effect late February.

The truce agreement, the first of its kind in Syria’s five year war, excludes the Nusra Front and the Islamic State group.

But the Nusra Front is embedded with other groups throughout the country. The government has taken advantage of this ambiguity to strike and besiege opposition-held areas across Syria.

Government airstrikes also targeted the public square in the opposition-held city of Maarat Nouman in the northern Idlib province Friday, where residents had protested against the Nusra Front presence in the town.

These latest strikes appear to have caused some rebel factions to reassess their position on the cease-fire. A number of groups including some nominally party to the truce agreement acknowledged on social media that they were battling government forces.

The Islam Army, whose political coordinator heads the opposition delegation during halting peace talks in Geneva, announced it had killed 20 government soldiers in fighting outside Damascus Friday.

A spokesman for a US-backed division of the Free Syrian Army accused the government of scrapping the cease-fire and undermining the Geneva talks. The group said one of its fighters was killed in the offensive against government forces in the south Aleppo countryside.

“The truce is considered over,” Zakariya Qaytaz of the Division 13 brigade told AP through Twitter. “This battle is a notice to the regime.” (AP) UZM