Syria ready to explore truce even as it bombs rebels
18 Oct 2012 12:54 AM GMT
Syria has said it is prepared to explore a truce proposal by international peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi, even as it unleashed multiple air strikes on rebel positions on a key highway.
The exiled opposition said yesterday it would welcome any ceasefire but that the ball was in the government’s court to halt its daily bombardments.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that pre-dawn air raids around Maaret al-Numan were the ‘most violent’ since insurgents captured the strategic town on the Damascus-Aleppo highway last week.
The Syrian foreign ministry said early yesterday that it looked forward to talks with UN-Arab League envoy Brahimi on his proposal for a ceasefire for the four-day Muslim Eid al-Adha holiday beginning at the end of October, which he has been promoting on a regional tour.
But spokesman Jihad Maqdisi stressed that the rebels and their backers would also need to be involved. ‘In order to succeed in any initiative, it takes two sides,’ Maqdisi said in answer to a question from AFP. ‘The Syrian side is interested in exploring this option and we are looking forward to talking to Mr Brahimi to see what is the position of other influential countries that he talked to in his tour,’ he said. ‘Will they pressure the armed groups that they host and finance and arm in order to abide by such a ceasefire?’ The opposition Syrian National Council said it would expect the rebel Free Syrian Army to reciprocate any halt to the violence but that it expected the government to act first.
The exiled opposition said yesterday it would welcome any ceasefire but that the ball was in the government’s court to halt its daily bombardments.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that pre-dawn air raids around Maaret al-Numan were the ‘most violent’ since insurgents captured the strategic town on the Damascus-Aleppo highway last week.
The Syrian foreign ministry said early yesterday that it looked forward to talks with UN-Arab League envoy Brahimi on his proposal for a ceasefire for the four-day Muslim Eid al-Adha holiday beginning at the end of October, which he has been promoting on a regional tour.
But spokesman Jihad Maqdisi stressed that the rebels and their backers would also need to be involved. ‘In order to succeed in any initiative, it takes two sides,’ Maqdisi said in answer to a question from AFP. ‘The Syrian side is interested in exploring this option and we are looking forward to talking to Mr Brahimi to see what is the position of other influential countries that he talked to in his tour,’ he said. ‘Will they pressure the armed groups that they host and finance and arm in order to abide by such a ceasefire?’ The opposition Syrian National Council said it would expect the rebel Free Syrian Army to reciprocate any halt to the violence but that it expected the government to act first.
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