Moderate Syrian opposition targeted amid truce: French FM

PARIS / BERLIN

France has called on Monday for an urgent meeting to monitor violations of the truce deal in Syria after receiving reports of attacks targeting the moderate Syrian opposition.

"We have received indications that attacks, including by air, have been continuing against zones controlled by the moderate opposition," French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault told reporters at the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva.

"All this needs to be verified. France has therefore demanded that the task force charged with overseeing the cessation of hostilities meet without delay," he added.

UN special envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura has already been planning a meeting of the task force, led by the U.S. and Russia, later in the day.

Germany has also voiced concern over the violations of the provisional cease-fire in Syria and urged all parties to refrain from taking steps that might endanger the process.

“The first days after the provisional cease-fire in Syria have presented a mixed picture so far,” Foreign Ministry deputy spokeswoman Sawsan Chebli said on Monday in Berlin.

“One can say that the fighting has significantly decreases,” she said. “But also both parties have accused each other for violations, especially around Aleppo.”

Chebli stressed that the next two or three days would be decisive for the process.

“Therefore we are calling on all parties to do their utmost and refrain from anything that might torpedo this fragile process,” she stressed.

Last week, a cessation-of-hostilities deal was agreed on by Washington and Moscow. It is the latest in a series of diplomatic efforts ostensibly aimed at ending the conflict, which will soon enter its sixth year.

Daesh and al-Qaeda’s Syria affiliate, the Nusra Front, along with other unspecified groups designated terrorist organizations by the UN Security Council, were not included in the agreement.