MESOP News Roundup: Tuesday, September 22 – Regime ‘closes door’ to truce negotiations in Waer

The regime told representatives from Homs city’s last rebel-controlled neighborhood that the prospect of truce negotiations is now “completely closed” after rebels attacked a nearby government checkpoint, one of the council’s members told Syria Direct on Tuesday.

Syria government negotiators “told us that the door to the negotiations is completely closed, and they are no longer responding to us,” Abu Aadi, a member of the Waer negotiation committee, told Syria Direct on Tuesday. The breakdown in peace talks comes after rebel fighters attacked a checkpoint on the outskirts of Waer on Monday in response to a barrage of regime rockets on the neighborhood that killed four civilians earlier that day. “The regime has been firing heavy machine guns non-stop since the beginning of the month, but on Monday there was an intense bombardment,” Sama Homsi, a member of the Homs Media Council, told Syria Direct from inside Waer on Tuesday. “This was the 22nd regime violation of the ceasefire in Waer,” Homsi said.The ceasefire had been in place in Waer since a United Nations visit there last month, when the local negotiation council requested a reboot of truce talks. www.mesop.de