Government Bombs Town It Made Truce With, Kills 16

At least 16 people were killed in government bombing on the Qaboun neighborhood outside Damascus in the past three days, Reuters reported.

This is the biggest attack on Qaboun in the past two years, according to the monitor Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR). Located northwest of the capital, the opposition-controlled district reached a truce agreement with the government nearly two years ago.

Hundreds of families reportedly fled their homes, heading deeper into rebel-held territory in the Eastern Ghouta.

Rebel shells are said to have hit government-held territories on Sunday; casualties were not reported.

Rebels Warn of Truce Breaking, De Mistura Not Optimistic for Geneva Peace Talks

Intensified government attacks are threatening the current truce, rebel factions backing recent peace talks warned on Monday, BBC News reported.

Government bombing of rebel-held areas around Damascus, Homs and Daraa are a “bloody message,” rebels said, warning that they have the right to respond. A nationwide truce brokered by Russia, Turkey and Iran took effect on December 30. The fragile truce had largely held and had reduced overall violence.

U.N.-sponsored peace talks are scheduled to start in Geneva on February 23. Staffan de Mistura, U.N. special envoy to Syria, has played down the hopes for the upcoming talks, Reuters reported.

“I can’t tell you (if it will succeed), but we have to push with the momentum. Even a cease-fire cannot hold too long if there is no political (solution),” he said. De Mistura also questioned the U.S.’s strategy in the negotiations.

“Where are the United States (on a political solution)? I can’t tell you, because I don’t know.”

Kurdish Leader Says They Will Fight Turkey If It Attacks Manbij

Kurdish fighters in Manbij will defend the city from any Turkish attempt to take over the area, the local commander of Kurdish forces told Al Jazeera on Sunday.

Earlier, Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Ankara’s operation in Syria would target Manbij and Raqqa after completing its offensive in al-Bab. Turkish forces are supporting Syrian rebels in al-Bab to defeat the so-called Islamic State (ISIS) there, as part of Turkey’s operation “Euphrates Shield.”

Launched in August 2016, the operation also targets Kurdish forces in Syria, whom Turkey sees as an extension to its own Kurdish insurgency. Kurdish forces are the U.S.-led coalition’s most effective ally in defeating ISIS.

“If Erdogan wants to come to Manbij, it’s his business, but we will defend our city with all the strength we can find. As Syrian people, we’ll resist any interference in our internal affairs,” Adnan Abu Amjad, the commander of Kurdish forces in Manbij, told Al Jazeera.

An alliance of Kurdish and Arab fighters backed by the U.S., known as the Syria Democratic Forces (SDF), defeated ISIS in Manbij in August 2016.

RECOMMENDED READS

• Carnegie: Going South in East Ghouta
• Carnegie: End Game for the Syrian Opposition
• Agence France-Presse: Syria’s White Helmets to Travel to U.S. for Oscars
• The Hill: Former Obama National Security Adviser Blasts Decisions in Syria as ‘Colossal Mistake’
• Agence France-Presse: ‘Daddy, Pick Me Up!’ Screams Boy After Syria Attack