Bombings, clashes leave Syria’s Muslim holiday truce in tatters
In this Thursday, Oct. 25, 2012 photo, smoke rises from the Karmal Jabl neighborhood, during clashes between rebel fighters and the Syrian army in Aleppo, Syria. (AP Photo/Narciso Contreras)
In this Friday, Oct. 26, 2012 photo, Syrian rebel fighters take cover as a Syrian army sniper aims over a destroyed mosque in Tarik Al-Bab, southeast of Aleppo, Syria. Activists say Syrian troops have shelled rebel-held areas and clashed with anti-government gunmen in several parts of the country despite an internationally mediated cease-fire. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and the Local Coordination Committees report shelling and shooting mostly in the northern province of Aleppo, the eastern region of Deir el-Zour, Daraa to the south and suburbs of the capital Damascus. (AP Photo/Narciso Contreras)
In this Thursday, Oct. 25, 2012 photo, Syrian rebel fighters belonging to the Liwa Al Tawhid unit pose for photo in the Karmal Jabl neighborhood after several days of intense clashes between rebel fighters and the Syrian army in Aleppo, Syria. (AP Photo/Narciso Contreras)
In this Friday, Oct. 26, 2012 photo, a Syrian rebel soldier watches an enemy position amid mortar explosions and gunfire in the Karmal Jabl neighborhood in Aleppo, Syria. Activists say Syrian troops have shelled rebel-held areas and clashed with anti-government gunmen in several parts of the country despite an internationally mediated cease-fire. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and the Local Coordination Committees report shelling and shooting mostly in the northern province of Aleppo, the eastern region of Deir el-Zour, Daraa to the south and suburbs of the capital Damascus. (AP Photo/Narciso Contreras)
A Syrian warplane flattened a three-story building, suspected rebels detonated a deadly car bomb and both sides traded gunfire in several hotspots across the country yesterday, activists said, leaving a U.N.-backed holiday truce in tatters on its second day.
The unraveling of the cease-fire marked the latest setback to ending Syria’s civil war through diplomacy. Foreign military intervention is unlikely, raising the grim prospect of a drawn-out war of attrition between President Bashar Assad and those trying to topple him.
The proposed four-day truce during the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha had been a long shot from the start since international mediator Lakhdar Brahimi failed to get solid commitments from all combatants. Fighting dropped off in the first hours of the cease-fire Friday, but by the end of the day, activists said 151 people had been killed in bombings and shootings, a standard daily toll in Syria.
Yesterday, the first regime airstrike since the start of the truce reduced a three-story building in the Arbeen suburb of the capital, Damascus to rubble, killing at least eight men, said the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which compiles reports from activists.
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