Repeated claims from both sides of ceasefire violations in Syria were entirely meaningless today, when witnesses saw troops with the Free Syrian Army (FSA) battling openly with the military in Qusayr, near the Lebanon border.
According to reports from a journalist on site, the fighting began when the FSA ambushed an army convoy near the town, sparking a battle. They insisted that attacking the convoy wasn’t a “violation” of the ceasefire as such, arguing that the convoy was itself a violation.
Even with the confirmed fighting in Qusayr, nationwide the fighting was still comparatively subdued, and the ceasefire remains mostly intact. Nearly a week into the ceasefire, however, things are far from normal in the country.
Indeed, reports from the key battleground towns suggest that the displaced civilian populations are not returning home just yet, and that most of the population movement is rebels moving back into the positions in those cities. What this means for the ceasefire remains to be seen, as there is still no solid timetable for moving on to formal negotiations.
I think "rebels" aka terrorists have to fulfill orders of their overlords who pay them their salaries and benefits and who is supplying them with arms and ammunition. Overlords have just one goal: to replace Assad with somebody friendly and obedient to his friends, somebody from Sunni wing of Islam, who hates Shiite Iran as much as we do. Ceasefire must fail, so "Friends of Syria" can bomb Syria to stone age. It will never end since "rebels" have orders not to enter negotiations.
Leading friend of all democracy and its Canadian partner could see how their polices isolated them from real life in Columbia at Summit of Americas.
The rebels are terrorists, and cease fire is just allowing them to sneak into more neighborhoods, take population hostages, and then again terrorize the country. This is why the population is not returning home — they have been terrorized by those bands. Influential German magazine, Der Spiegel, published an interivew with one fo those "rebels". His job is to be an executioner. You see, they have "interrogation" squads, that decides who among civilians is not to be trusted, and is condemned to death. Then he and his "execution squad" kill the person in cemeteries or parks. WHY IS IT THAT WESTERN MEDIA DOES NOT ALLOW PUBLICATION OF TESTIMONIES BY POPULATION THAT ESCAPED THE TERRORISTS once Syrian army took over some of the neighborhoods they controlled? Why? Media can find these people in refugee camps, and publish their stories protecting their identity. They have been subjected to the ordeal that few of us can imagine, and by the very people who are being supported by the highest echelons of our government? Something stinks here.