MESOP TODAYS GENERAL SITUATION IN SYRIA / CEASEFIRE – Pro-Regime Airstrike & Jabhat al-Nusra Offensive Test Ceasefire
by Scott Lucas – eaworldview – UPDATE 0800 GMT: Jund al-Aqsa and Jabhat al-Nusra have withdrawn from the hills around the village of al-Eis, south of Aleppo. Local sources said the factions withdrew as Russia bombed the area. The jihadists claimed they killed more than 60 pro-regime foreign militia.
ORIGINAL ENTRY: Syria’s cessation of hostilities was tested on two fronts on Monday: a pro-Assad airstrike killing at least 20 people in a fuel market in Idlib Province in northwest Syria, and two jihadist factions attacked pro-regime foreign militia south of Aleppo city.
The Russian or regime strike hit Abu Duhur, south of Idlib city, wounding another 40 people.
The coordinator of the opposition-rebel High Negotiations Committee, Riad Hijab, told the reporters that the attack was evidence of the continuing breaches of the ceasefire: “Just a few minutes before we came on this conference there was a massacre committed by the air forces of the Russians and the regime.”
Hijab said the High Negotiations Committee would consult military commanders about whether to attend the resumption of talks, convened by UN envoy Staffan de Mistura, next week.
The Local Coordination Committees recorded the deaths of 61 people across Syria on Monday, including 25 in Idlib Province and 16 in Aleppo Province.
JIHADISTS ADVANCE NEAR ALEPPO
South of Aleppo, the jihadist factions Jund al-Aqsa and Jabhat al-Nusra struck the pro-Assad foreign militias near the village of al-Eis, close to Khan Tuman.
Despite barrel bombing by regime aircraft, the jihadists took two hills and attacked the village.
Jund al-Aqsa and Jabhat al-Nusra appear to take advantage of the move of Shia militias further south in Aleppo Province to challenge the Islamic State.
Local sources said that no rebel factions covered by the February 27 ceasefire are involved. However, fighters from Ahrar al-Sham and Faylaq al-Sham reportedly joined the attacks, defying the official line of their leadership. www.mesop.de