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| Syrian president Bashar al-Assad vows to retake whole country | Syrian president Bashar al-Assad vows to retake whole country |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Bashar al-Assad has dealt a blow to international efforts to secure a ceasefire and promote a negotiated solution to the war in Syria, vowing to regain control of the entire country and warning that it could “take a long time”. | |
| The Syrian president was speaking to the AFP news agency in Damascus on Thursday, just hours before an agreement was reached in Munich on arranging cessation of hostilities and the urgent delivery of humanitarian aid to hundreds of thousands of civilians in besieged areas. | The Syrian president was speaking to the AFP news agency in Damascus on Thursday, just hours before an agreement was reached in Munich on arranging cessation of hostilities and the urgent delivery of humanitarian aid to hundreds of thousands of civilians in besieged areas. |
| Assad said his armed forces would try to retake all of Syria “without any hesitation”, but that the involvement of regional players “means that the solution will take a long time and will incur a heavy price”. He warned of the possibility of intervention by Turkey and Saudi Arabia, who back the rebels. | |
| Related: Syria war cessation deal relies on something in short supply: trust | |
| The Syrian leader affirmed his readiness to talk – but he offered nothing to the forces who have been seeking to overthrow him since 2011. “We have fully believed in negotiations,” he said. “However, if we negotiate, it does not mean that we stop fighting terrorism. The two tracks are inevitable in Syria.” | The Syrian leader affirmed his readiness to talk – but he offered nothing to the forces who have been seeking to overthrow him since 2011. “We have fully believed in negotiations,” he said. “However, if we negotiate, it does not mean that we stop fighting terrorism. The two tracks are inevitable in Syria.” |
| The defiant tone does not augur well for the speedy implementation of the fragile and tentative agreement drawn up by the International Syria Support Group, comprising the US, Russia, Britain, Iran, Saudi Arabia and others. | The defiant tone does not augur well for the speedy implementation of the fragile and tentative agreement drawn up by the International Syria Support Group, comprising the US, Russia, Britain, Iran, Saudi Arabia and others. |
| Initial efforts to plan aid deliveries were under way on Friday at the UN headquarters in Geneva, where a new Task Force on Humanitarian Access in Syria was being chaired by Jan Egeland, adviser to the UN’s Syria envoy, Staffan de Mistura. | |
| “The purpose of this initial meeting is to agree on how the taskforce and its members can contribute to ensuring that immediate access is granted to the civilian populations in besieged and hard to reach areas,” the UN said. | |
| Members of Syria’s moderate, western-backed opposition earlier reacted with guarded optimism to the agreement to pause hostilities, but said they did not trust Russia to keep its end of the bargain and halt an intense aerial campaign responsible for the most significant advances by forces loyal to Assad since the start of the civil war. | Members of Syria’s moderate, western-backed opposition earlier reacted with guarded optimism to the agreement to pause hostilities, but said they did not trust Russia to keep its end of the bargain and halt an intense aerial campaign responsible for the most significant advances by forces loyal to Assad since the start of the civil war. |
| The advance has so far displaced 51,000 civilians and placed 300,000 more at risk of being placed under siege in Aleppo, according to UN officials, who described the humanitarian situation there as grotesque. | |
| Rebels questioned the real impact of the deal on the ground, since it excludes the al-Nusra Front, al-Qaida’s affiliate in Syria, which operates in large swaths of the country’s territory. | Rebels questioned the real impact of the deal on the ground, since it excludes the al-Nusra Front, al-Qaida’s affiliate in Syria, which operates in large swaths of the country’s territory. |
| Related: 'No one believes it': Aleppo losing hope amid doubts over ceasefire | Related: 'No one believes it': Aleppo losing hope amid doubts over ceasefire |
| Issam al-Reis, a spokesman for the Southern Front, a western-backed opposition alliance fighting close to the Jordanian border, said: “We greet this announcement with tentative optimism. However, we are sceptical that Russia will hold to these commitments when its current policy is to indiscriminately bomb all parties in Syria into the dust, in particular civilians and moderate opposition, and with complete impunity, while saying they are bombing terrorists. | |
| “We are waiting for real action, we have now lost faith in words without real action.” | |
| Syria’s main opposition group welcomed the plan, its spokesman, Salim al-Muslat, told reporters. However, he warned that the agreement must show effects before his group would join political talks with government representatives in Switzerland. | Syria’s main opposition group welcomed the plan, its spokesman, Salim al-Muslat, told reporters. However, he warned that the agreement must show effects before his group would join political talks with government representatives in Switzerland. |
| “If we see action and implementation, we will see you very soon in Geneva,” he said. | “If we see action and implementation, we will see you very soon in Geneva,” he said. |
| The Southern Front says Russia has conducted about 50 airstrikes a day on its positions since the end of November, a pace unparalleled since the start of the war, and Moscow’s intervention last autumn – advertised as a campaign against Islamic State – has mostly targeted the mainstream opposition. | The Southern Front says Russia has conducted about 50 airstrikes a day on its positions since the end of November, a pace unparalleled since the start of the war, and Moscow’s intervention last autumn – advertised as a campaign against Islamic State – has mostly targeted the mainstream opposition. |