The Syrian truce, which has been held for four days, looks even more uncertain today, and some of the rebels have abandoned preparations for peace negotiations and accused the Syrian authorities of violating the ceasefire.
With their decision, about a dozen rebel groups threaten to undermine the process that should begin at the end of January in Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan under the auspices of Russia and Iran, supporters of the Syrian authorities, and Turkey, which supports the rebels.
In a statement released last night, rebel groups accused Bashar al-Assad's authorities of not respecting a ceasefire in effect since December 30, one of many ceasefires declared and violated since the war began nearly six years ago.
"The violation continues and the rebel groups announce a freeze on all decisions related to negotiations in Astana," the capital of Kazakhstan, the rebels said in a statement.
The rebels state that they respected the truce, but that the authorities and their allies repeatedly violated it, especially in the areas of Wadi Barada and Eastern Ghouta, in Damascus province, where, according to them, the lives of hundreds of thousands of people are at risk.
Among the signatories are the Islamist groups Jaish al-Islam and Faylaq al-Rahman, influential in Damascus, as well as the Turkish-backed Sultan Murad group and Jaish al-Ezza, active in the central province of Hama.
According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an offensive by government forces, backed by fighters from the Shiite Lebanese movement Hezbollah, continues today in Wada Barada, a rebel-held area 15 kilometers from Damascus.
It is a strategic sector because it is where the main sources of drinking water supply for the four million inhabitants of the capital Damascus and its surroundings are located.
The Syrian government accuses the rebels of targeting infrastructure and using diesel to pollute water reserves and cut off Damascus' water supply. The rebels fight back, and the bombing destroys the installations and that this causes serious water shortages in the capital since December 22.
The authorities also say that the Fateh al-Sham group (formerly the al-Nusra Front, al-Qaeda's branch in Syria) is present in Wadi Barada, which the rebels deny. Fateh al-Sham was excluded from the ceasefire and peace negotiations.
The Observatory said there were other ceasefire violations in the country, such as airstrikes on the town of Khan Sheikhoun, in Idlib province, which is largely under rebel control. According to the Observatory, one pregnant woman was killed and three civilians were wounded.
On the other hand, the rebels opened fire in two villages in the central province of Hama.
Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman said the truce is at a "critical stage" and risks collapsing completely unless Russia and Turkey intervene to save it.
The negotiations in Astana should precede the negotiations scheduled for February in Geneva. None of the previous negotiations between the warring parties in Syria led to the beginning of the resolution of the conflict in which more than 310.000 people have died and millions have fled.
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