The UN Security Council yesterday voted for a 30-day ceasefire in Syria. Major news outlet reporting on how well the ceasefire is holding is mixed.
The situation in Syria has been especially complex lately, and the level of death and destruction especially high. I don’t want to pretend to be adequately conveying the situation, with these few newspaper quotes.
The UN Security Council has voted unanimously to approve a 30-day humanitarian ceasefire in Syria. Shortly after the vote, reports suggested that warplanes had once again struck the rebel-held enclave of eastern Ghouta.
The ceasefire was to come into effect immediately, according to the resolution passed on Saturday by the UN Security Council.
The vote had been delayed as negotiations over the text drafted by Kuwait and Sweden continued with the Russian delegation.
Read more: Hell on Earth rages in Syria's eastern Ghouta, while the world watches
The council spent two weeks negotiating a draft resolution that would demand a ceasefire "without delay" to allow immediate deliveries of humanitarian aid and medical evacuations.
UN Security Council votes for 30-day ceasefire in Syria without delay, Deutsche Welle
Diplomats said Saturday's vote ended up being a bit of a showdown between Nikki Haley, the US ambassador to the United Nations, and her Russian counterpart, Vassily Nebenzia, over the timing of a ceasefire.
Moscow remains a staunch advocate of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime.
The diplomats said the United States fought to keep language in the resolution that called for an immediate start to the ceasefire and unfettered humanitarian access without delay. The Russians kept trying to water it down to delay implementation, the diplomats said.
In the end the Russians relented and the language on an immediate ceasefire and humanitarian access were retained, the diplomats said. They said they are skeptical the Syrian regime will comply but are hopeful the resolution could be a turning point.
The Syrian capital and its embattled eastern suburbs were relatively calm on Sunday, following the U.N. Security Council's unanimous approval of a resolution demanding a 30-day cease-fire across Syria, opposition activists and residents of Damascus said.
The activists reported few violations, including some clashes, on the southern edge of the rebel-held suburbs, known as eastern Ghouta, and two airstrikes late on Saturday night, shortly after the resolution was adopted.
The calm came after a week of intense airstrikes and shelling that killed more than 500 people in eastern Ghouta and left dozens dead or wounded in the government-held Damascus, which rebels pelted with mortar shells.
Syrian capital and its suburbs are calm after the UN cease-fire vote, AP
Syrian regime forces have launched a fresh ground and air offensive against rebel positions in the besieged and battered enclave of eastern Ghouta in defiance of a nationwide ceasefire ordered by the UN security council.
Witnesses said fighting erupted on several fronts on Sunday in what was seen as a possible last-ditch bid by Bashar al-Assad, Syria’s president, to eliminate opposition resistance in Ghouta, near Damascus, before the 30-day ceasefire can be enforced.
Renewed airstrikes and artillery shelling killed nine people and injured 31 in the eastern suburbs, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based monitoring group. It said the bombing was less intense than attacks over the past week.
Syria: fresh fighting in eastern Ghouta despite UN-ordered ceasefire, Guardian
Air strikes by the Syrian government on a rebel-held enclave have continued despite a ceasefire resolution passed by the UN Security Council on Friday.
Hundreds of people have died in a week of bombardment of the Eastern Ghouta enclave near the capital, Damascus.
The latest attacks include a ground offensive that began hours after the UN urged a 30-day truce "without delay".
On Sunday, France and Germany called on Russia to put pressure on the Syrian government to honour the ceasefire.
Speaking to Russian President Vladimir Putin in a joint telephone conversation, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron asked for help with implementing the UN resolution.
Syria war: Air strikes resume hours after UN approves ceasefire, BBC
Monday, Feb 26, 2018 · 1:03:32 AM +00:00
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Garrett
Washington Post reports pretty authoritatively that Syria is not observing the cease-fire in Ghouta.
But to secure the support of Russia, the language of the resolution was diluted to exclude unspecified “terrorists,” a loophole that seems to be providing justification for continued fighting on many fronts. The Syrian government routinely describes all of its opponents as terrorists, even though only a small number of the armed groups fighting in Syria are designated as terrorists by the international community.
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A top Iranian military official said that Iran and Syria would abide by the cease-fire resolution, but that the suburbs of Damascus would not be included because they are “under terrorists’ control.”
Violence rages unabated in Ghouta as Syria defies U.N. cease-fire resolution, Washington Post