Nobody, least of all the Syrian rebels, expected the latest attempt at an internationally-brokered ceasefire in Syria to hold, but a week in world leaders are touting the “real progress” that has been achieved and the UN is looking toward resuming peace talks.
The rebels, the first to complain about the ceasefire’s brokering, are also loudly condemning the ceasefire for holding, claiming that the success of the ceasefire is giving the Assad government a chance to mobilize forces against them.
They’re also criticizing the push for peace talks, with Riad Hijab insisting that the conditions are “not favorable” for peace talks right now. The rebels had similarly spurned the last UN effort to start peace talks, showing up in Geneva only to tell the UN they weren’t “officially” going to attend.
Before that last round of peace talks, the rebels made a ceasefire a precondition for attending, but now with the ceasefire firmly in place, it’s unclear how they’ll end up justifying spurning the talks.
