In Aleppo, Syria cease-fire was short-lived
| Aleppo, Syria
Regime and rebel forces engaged in clashes in Syria's聽largest city today, breaking a cease-fire agreement only hours after it got underway.聽
United Nations special envoy to Syria聽Lakhdar Brahimi brokered the deal, timed to coincide with the Muslim holiday Eid al-Adha, in hopes that a temporary cessation of violence would provide a window for work to begin on negotiations.聽
Rebel forces said the Syrian Army attacked this morning, the first day聽of the four-day holiday, after rebels made advances in聽the city last night for the first time in weeks. The government had previously said it would hold to the cease-fire only if the rebels did; some聽rebel commanders said the same, while others refused to agree to any break in the fighting.
The Syrian Army intermittently shelled rebel forces and the two sides聽exchanged gunfire on multiple fronts in Aleppo today, where the聽government and the rebels have been locked in a fierce battle for聽Syria's manufacturing and industrial center since July. However, the light clashes were nothing like the intense聽battles that raged in the city weeks ago.
Not long after sunset, a large shell exploded over the聽city, leaving a plume of black smoke. In the neighborhood of Karm el-Jebel, the聽commander of the rebel brigade fighting in the area said regime forces聽began attacking in the morning, and shelled rebel positions with two聽tanks in the afternoon.
"There is no ceasefire," said Abu Yazem, commander of the rebels' Martyr Abu聽Abdu Brigade and a former Syrian Army officer who asked that his full name not be used. "From early this聽morning, they started to shoot at us."
He conferred with a small group of his fighters as darkness descended聽on the completely deserted neighborhood. No lights shown from the聽broken buildings, and the only sign of life was a family of stray cats聽that mewed loudly while scurrying through the rubble-strewn streets. The crack of gunshots echoed in the darkened neighborhood.
Abu Ali Saqr, the head of the Saqr el Quraysh brigade, said his men聽fought regime forces in Salaheddin聽area. "The ceasefire is fake," he聽says. "Last night a missile from the regime landed here," he said,聽gesturing to the roof of the building where a rebel division is聽headquartered.聽
The fighting today came after the rebels made gains in three areas of聽the city last night. Officers from the Liwa el Tawheed division said聽the rebels took the districts of Ashrafieh and Bani Zeid, both Kurdish聽areas, through a deal with the local armed Kurdish group, which has previously聽refused to join the revolution.聽The rebels and the armed聽Kurdish group are negotiating over the fate of missing rebel soldiers聽who disappeared after entering the Kurdish areas.
Though the rebels聽have made gains, the聽regime still has a firm hold on parts of the city.
In rebel-held parts of Aleppo earlier today, men waited with herds of sheep they聽hoped residents would buy for the holiday. Traditionally, families buy聽a sheep or another animal and slaughter it on the Eid, eating some of聽the meat and giving the rest to the poor. But customers were few and聽far between in the city. Many residents have fled the fighting, while聽others can no longer afford to buy a sheep or don't wish to celebrate. According to opposition estimates, more than 30,000 people聽have died since the uprising began in March 2011.
