Alwaght- As the Syrian Army declared the initial seven days of the nationwide ceasefire in the country have run their course, the US faces blame for lack of commitment to the truce it brokered.
The Syrian Army’s statement released on Monday blames, “terrorist groups” for jeopardizing the cessation of hostilities,
"It was assumed that the ceasefire will present a real chance to end the bloodshed, but terrorist groups did not adhere to any of the points of the agreement on a ceasefire, the number of violations on their part has exceeded 300," reads the statement published by SANA news. According to the statement, the Syrian Army has "shown the highest level of endurance in confronting the abuses by terrorist groups."
Meanwhile on Friday, Russian Defense Ministry said, the US is still reluctant to take measures to force rebels under its control to implement the Syrian ceasefire. “After five days of the ceasefire, it has to be noted that only the Russian and Syrian sides have been fully implementing their commitments, senior Russian General Staff official, Viktor Poznikhir, said at a briefing in Moscow.
But, according to Poznikhir, it is very different on the American side as “the US and the so-called moderate groups under their control didn’t fulfill a single commitment undertaken in the framework of the Geneva arrangements.”
The Russian official pointed out that “the main priority of the Russian-American agreements of September was the division of territories controlled by ISIS, al-Nusra Front, and the areas controlled by the ‘moderate opposition,’ as well the separation of the ‘moderate opposition’ from al-Nusra Front terrorist group.”
Such a division is essential for the implementation of the ceasefire in Syria because “without it, the hands of the government forces are tied. They can’t fight the terrorists without knowing which of them joined the truce and who didn’t,” he explained.
Last week, Russia’s Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov, and US Secretary of State, John Kerry, agreed to influence the Syrian government and the so-called moderate rebel forces respectively in order to establish a ceasefire in the country.
Since then, Russia has repeatedly complained that the US is failing to keep its part of the bargain. While the US, on its part, blamed Russia for not pressuring Damascus enough to facilitate humanitarian access to Syria.
Lavrov talked to Kerry on the phone Saturday, urging Washington to start influencing the opposition in Syria in order to expand humanitarian access in the country, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.
US has devious intentions in Syria
Meanwhile a senior Iranian official has said US airstrikes on Syrian government forces who are fighting terrorists highlight Washington’s true intentions.
“We strongly denounce the US measures, and do not believe that it was a military mistake,” said Hossein Amir-Abdollahian on Sunday during a meeting with Syria’s Ambassador to Tehran, Adnan Hassan Mahmoud.
On Saturday, a US-led coalition attack in Syria’s eastern province of Dayr al-Zawr killed dozens of Syrian soldiers and injured a hundred more.
The US will do anything to weaken Syria’s morale and boost terrorist groups, added the advisor to Iran’s parliament speaker.
“The presence of US soldiers in Syria violates international laws and has not been coordinated with the Syrian government,” he added.
He went on to stress that Washington’s attack on the Syrian army also violated a Russia-US brokered ceasefire in Syria. “Attacking an army which is battling terrorism means backstabbing and helping ISIS,” he noted.
Iran officially denounced US airstrikes on a Syrian military air base in the Arab country's eastern province of Dayr al-Zawr, saying such raids pose a threat to the implementation of the ceasefire meant to end hostilities in the war-hit Arab state.
“The American forces’ raid on the Syrian army’s positions will not only fail to help the fight against terrorism and establish stability in the [Arab] country, but is also a threat to the declared ceasefire,” Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman, Bahram Qassemi said.
Syria’s Foreign Ministry has called on the UN Security Council to condemn the American aggression, and force Washington not to repeat it and to respect Syria's sovereignty plus unity of its land and people.
Russia’s Foreign Ministry said in a strongly-worded statement on Sunday that the strikes were “on the boundary between criminal negligence and direct connivance” with the Takfiri ISIS terrorists.
