{"id":281327,"date":"2017-01-03T12:00:29","date_gmt":"2017-01-03T12:00:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=281327"},"modified":"2017-01-03T12:00:29","modified_gmt":"2017-01-03T12:00:29","slug":"syrian-conflict-rebels-threaten-to-boycott-astana-talks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=281327","title":{"rendered":"Syrian conflict: Rebels threaten to boycott Astana talks"},"content":{"rendered":"

Syrian rebel groups say they are suspending participation in the preparations for peace talks planned by Russia and Turkey for later this month.<\/p>\n

A statement, signed by a number of groups, cited “many and large violations” of the ceasefire by the Syrian government as the reason.<\/p>\n

Turkey and Russia brokered the ceasefire deal last Thursday, and it has mostly held since then.<\/p>\n

The peace talks are due to be held in Astana, Kazakhstan.<\/p>\n

“The regime and its allies have continued firing and committed many and large violations,” the statement issued on Monday said.<\/p>\n

“As these violations are continuing, the rebel factions announce… the freezing of all discussion linked to the Astana negotiations,” it said.<\/p>\n

<\/figure>\n
<\/figure>\n

The groups highlighted fighting in the rebel-held region of Wadi Barada, north-west of Damascus, which they say has been subjected to almost-daily bombing raids and bombardment by Syrian forces and their Hezbollah allies.<\/p>\n

The area does not fall under the ceasefire agreement, given the presence of Jabhat Fateh al-Sham (JFS), a jihadist group which was excluded from the deal.<\/p>\n

Wadi Barada contains a major spring, which supplies water to millions of residents in the capital. The government has accused the rebels of polluting it with diesel, which they deny.<\/p>\n

\"Map<\/span><\/figure>\n

While the rebels “respected the ceasefire across the whole of Syria… the regime and its allies have not stopped shooting”, the rebels’ statement said.<\/p>\n

The Syrian military has denied the allegations.<\/p>\n

On New Year’s Eve, the UN Security Council unanimously backed Russian-Turkish efforts to end the fighting in Syria and to organise peace talks.<\/p>\n

The ceasefire deal excludes the jihadists of so-called Islamic State (IS) and JFS, and the Kurdish YPG militia.<\/p>\n

Who is included in the truce agreement?<\/strong><\/p>\n

On the one side, Syrian government forces, allied militias and the Russian military.<\/p>\n

On the other, the FSA plus several other groups.<\/p>\n

\n
\"Rebel
Rebel fighters in al-Rai, in northern Aleppo province<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n

The Russian defence ministry named seven “moderate opposition formations” included in the truce as Faylaq al-Sham, Ahrar al-Sham, Jaysh al-Islam, Thuwwar Ahl al-Sham, Jaysh al-Mujahidin, Jaysh Idlib and Jabhah al-Shamiya.<\/p>\n

Ahrar al-Sham, which said it had “reservations” about the deal, and Jaysh al-Islam are Islamist groups that Russia has previously described as terrorist organisations.<\/p>\n

Who is not included?<\/strong><\/p>\n

IS and JFS and the groups affiliated to them are not part of the agreement, according to the Syrian army.<\/p>\n

JFS said on Friday it would continue to fight President Assad, with a spokesman saying the political solution under the truce would “reproduce the criminal regime”.<\/p>\n

Members of the group are currently operating as part of a rebel alliance that controls Idlib province.<\/p>\n

\"Kurdish<\/span><\/figure>\n

The FSA also said the deal did not include the Kurdish Popular Protection Units (YPG).<\/p>\n

The militia, which has captured large swathes of north-eastern Syria from IS with US support, is designated a terrorist organisation by Turkey.<\/p>\n

The truce is nominally nationwide, although it really only covers the areas where the sides who have signed up have a presence – western Syria.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Syrian rebel groups say they are suspending participation in the preparations for peace talks planned by Russia and Turkey for later this month. A statement, signed by a number of groups, cited “many and large violations” of the ceasefire by the Syrian government as the reason. Turkey and Russia brokered the ceasefire deal last Thursday, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[107],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-281327","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-international"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281327","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=281327"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281327\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=281327"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=281327"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=281327"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}