Syrian Rebels Furious as Ceasefire Continues to Hold

Even US Confirms No Significant Violations

After five years of civil war, Syria is experiencing a temporary return to normalcy, with a ceasefire now in its fifth day and still holding steady. There is a lot of negativity about the chances of making a peace deal, but everyone is enjoying the dramatic reduction in violence the ceasefire has provided.

Everyone except the rebels, that is. Having resisted international efforts to broker a settlement of the war, many rebel factions were dragged kicking and screaming by the international community into this truce, insisting all the while it wouldn’t work.

The rebels who were blasting the US for “betraying” them by supporting a doomed ceasefire last week are now blasting the US for “betraying” them by supporting a ceasefire which is working, and is heading toward some settlement short of installing them as the new government.

Rebels now say they’re convinced the US, Russia, and the Assad government are all plotting against them, and after previously making their participation in peace talks conditional on a ceasefire, they are hunting for a new excuse to keep the war going.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.