The Syrian Observatory For Human Rights

A glimmer of hope’ for the people of Syria: Assad’s government agrees to six-week ceasefire in Aleppo after clashes kill 150 fighters in just 24 hours

The Syrian government has agreed to suspend airstrikes and artillery shelling on Aleppo for six weeks to see if a ceasefire is workable in the city, according to the United Nations envoy to Syria.

Staffan de Mistura was briefing the Security Council in closed session on his latest efforts to find a solution to the civil war that has torn Syria apart over the past four years. He called the new development a ‘glimmer of hope’ and continued to emphasise a political solution to the conflict.

Despite the Assad regime’s agreement to a ceasefire, battles in and around Aleppo have killed at least 70 pro-government fighters and more than 80 insurgents in the last 24 hours after the army launched a fresh offensive in the city earlier this week, a monitoring group said. 

The army, backed by local allied militia, captured areas north of Aleppo yesterday in what the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights called an attempt to encircle the city and cut off supply lines.

Conflict: A rebel tank is seen as members of Opponent Aleppo Brigades attack Assad regime forces in Melah region, on the north side of the city during clashes yesterday 

Conflict: A rebel tank is seen as members of Opponent Aleppo Brigades attack Assad regime forces in Melah region, on the north side of the city during clashes yesterday 

Fighting: Despite the Assad regime's agreement to a ceasefire, battles in and around Aleppo have killed at least 70 pro-government fighters and more than 80 insurgents in the last 24 hours

Fighting: Despite the Assad regime’s agreement to a ceasefire, battles in and around Aleppo have killed at least 70 pro-government fighters and more than 80 insurgents in the last 24 hours

Armed: The army, backed by local allied militia, captured areas north of Aleppo yesterday in what the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights called an attempt to encircle the city and cut off rebel forces (pictured)

Armed: The army, backed by local allied militia, captured areas north of Aleppo yesterday in what the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights called an attempt to encircle the city and cut off rebel forces (pictured)

A member of the Opponent Aleppo Brigades is pictured before attacking Assad regime forces near Aleppo

A member of the Opponent Aleppo Brigades is pictured before attacking Assad regime forces near Aleppo

Mr de Mistura now has to get the opposition’s support for the plan, which includes a request for them to suspend rocket and mortar fire in the same period. Syria’s ambassador to the UN refused to comment after the council meeting.

‘Let’s be frank. I have no illusions,’ Mr de Mistura told reporters. ‘Based on past experiences, it is a difficult issue to achieve.’

This was Mr de Mistura’s first council briefing since he explained his freeze plan in October, and council members wanted to know what kind of support it received from president Bashar Assad.

Aleppo is divided into a rebel-controlled west and government-held east. 

Mr de Mistura wants to see a UN-monitored ‘freeze zone’ that will calm violence there, allow more humanitarian aid access and act as the first step toward a wider solution to the conflict.

‘Our hope is that Aleppo could be a signal of goodwill, a confidence-building measure which could and can facilitate the re-starting of a political process with a clear political horizon,’ he said last month in Geneva.

But Aleppo-based opposition activists have expressed fears the government would exploit a truce to gather its forces to fight elsewhere, and they have questioned how a ceasefire could work with Islamic State fighters in the area.

Members of the anti-government activist group Aleppo Media Center fire homemade shells inside the city

Members of the anti-government activist group Aleppo Media Center fire homemade shells inside the city

Rebel fighters man an anti-aircraft weapon at the front line against forces loyal to Assad north of Aleppo

Rebel fighters man an anti-aircraft weapon at the front line against forces loyal to Assad north of Aleppo

Members of Opponent Aleppo Brigades perform prayer before they attack Assad regime forces near Aleppo

Members of Opponent Aleppo Brigades perform prayer before they attack Assad regime forces near Aleppo

The army and allied combatants from Lebanon's Hezbollah group have also launched a large-scale assault in southern Syria against insurgents (pictured in a tank near Aleppo) 

The army and allied combatants from Lebanon’s Hezbollah group have also launched a large-scale assault in southern Syria against insurgents (pictured in a tank near Aleppo)

Aleppo is at the forefront of clashes between the army and a range of insurgents, including Islamist brigades, the Al Qaeda’s affiliated Nusra Front and Western-backed units battling Assad.

This week’s government advance on Aleppo is the second major offensive by pro-government forces in a week. The army and allied combatants from Lebanon’s Hezbollah group have also launched a large-scale assault in southern Syria against insurgents.

Today the main route leading north out of Aleppo to the Turkish border was blocked and under fire by pro-government forces, the Observatory’s founder Rami Abdulrahman said.

‘The regime went forward a bit yesterday and the road is still closed,’ he said. The army was controlling the route from positions it set up in the villages of Bashkuwi and Sifat on Tuesday on either side of the road, he said.

Insurgents can take another route north but it entails going northwest out of the city and circumnavigating army-held areas before heading north again. 

‘It is the very long way around,’ Abdulrahman said. He also said poor weather prevented Syrian air force bombardment on Wednesday but fighting continued on the ground.

Members of Opponent Aleppo Brigades attack fighters loyal to Assad close to Aleppo yesterday morning

Members of Opponent Aleppo Brigades attack fighters loyal to Assad close to Aleppo yesterday morning

Aleppo is at the forefront of clashes between the army and a range of insurgents (pictured), including Islamist brigades, the Al Qaeda's affiliated Nusra Front and Western-backed units battling Assad

Aleppo is at the forefront of clashes between the army and a range of insurgents (pictured), including Islamist brigades, the Al Qaeda’s affiliated Nusra Front and Western-backed units battling Assad

Rebel fighters load their weapons before engaging Assad regime forces in a firefight yesterday

Rebel fighters load their weapons before engaging Assad regime forces in a firefight yesterday

Men carry the body of a pro-Assad regime fighter into a morgue in the city of Aleppo earlier this morning

Men carry the body of a pro-Assad regime fighter into a morgue in the city of Aleppo earlier this morning

Casualties on the government side could be higher than 70 because 25 of its combatants were unaccounted for, Abdulrahman said. Sixty-six Syrian insurgents from various groups were killed in the fighting, as well as at least 20 from Nusra Front, he added.

Around 60 Syrian soldiers reached the Shi’ite Muslim towns of al-Zahra and Nubl north of Aleppo after retreating from battles in the town of Ratain on Tuesday, the Observatory said.

Fighting had also raged in several Aleppo city districts on Tuesday. SANA, Syria’s state news agency, said the army seized at least six villages near Aleppo on Tuesday.

On Tuesday United Nations Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura said the government was willing to suspend air strikes and shelling of Aleppo for six weeks so that a local ceasefire plan could be tested. But he played down prospects for wider progress.

‘Every time there is a proposal of a ceasefire … history has proven that there is some type of acceleration in order to take a better position,’ he said. ‘I fear that could be the case.’

The Syrian conflict started in 2011 with protests against Assad and has descended into a civil war, drawing in foreign fighters on both sides. The UN estimates that the conflict has killed 220,000 people. Millions have fled to neighbouring countries.

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