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FSA spokesman says 'we are not protecting Fateh al-Sham', urges regime to respect ceasefire

 (Zaman Al Wasl)- Osama Abazeid, spokesman for the Syrian armed opposition, told Zaman al-Wasl the ceasefire agreement that had been signed by rebels was not the same one which was discussed in the United Nations Security Council on Saturday.

The legal advisor and the representative of Free Syrian Army (FSA) - a loose alliance of moderate fighters and army defectors- said the Russian version of the deal was missing "a number of key and essential points that are non-negotiable". Such missing took time to be modified.

The Security Council was adopted a resolution welcoming the ceasefire despite being urged by the FSA factions not to endorse the deal until the Syrian regime and Russia had shown they would respect it.

The deal, brokered by Russia and Turkey, which back opposing sides, reduced violence, but firefights, air strikes and shelling went on in some areas.

The deal also was the first not to involve the United States or the United Nations.

The resolution also welcomed plans for the talks in Kazakhstan on Jan. 16 before a resumption of U.N.-brokered talks in Geneva on February.8.

Abazeid said regime forces and Iranian-backed Lebanese Hezbollah fighters had been trying to push rebels back in the Wadi Barada valley, northwest of Damascus.

FSA factions said in a separate statement that they would abandon the truce deal if Russia did not use its influence to halt the Wadi Barada attacks by 8 p.m. (1800 GMT).

Later, Abazeid said air raids around Wadi Barada had stopped just before 8 p.m. and that the ceasefire therefore still held, although clashes in the area were continuing.

The rebels and political opposition said the regime side was massing forces to launch a ground attack in the area. There has been no new announcement by the military since it launched operations in the area last week.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group confirmed that there had been fighting in the area, source of most of the capital's water, and said there had also been government shelling in the southern provinces of Quneitra and Deraa.

Even with a successful truce between Assad and the main armed opposition, the multi-sided conflict will continue.

In particular, Turkey is trying to push back Kurdish forces and the jihadist Islamic State, both excluded from the deal, from areas south of its border.

The position of other Islamist groups such as Jabhat Fateh al-Sham and Ahrar al-Sham with respect to the ceasefire is unclear; both have criticised it.

Abazeid said our conditions that rebel-held areas, including Jabahat Fateh al-Sham presence, to not be targeted by Russians or Assad forces, assuring that formerly Nusra Front is not protected by rebel factions.

The war has killed more than 430,000 people and made more than 11 million homeless. (With Reuters)


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