BEIRUT (AP) — A military buildup in northern Syria, coupled with heavy fighting and mounting civilian casualties, spells the end of a cease-fire that for two months brought some relief to a war-weary country. The renewed violence is ushering in what could be an even more ruinous chapter in the 5-year-old conflict.
Approximately 200 civilians have been killed in the past week, nearly half of them around Aleppo. There has even been shelling in Damascus, along with a car bomb — both rarities for the capital.
With peace talks in Geneva completely deadlocked, Syrians are regarding the escalating bloodshed with dread, fearing a return to full war and slow destruction.
“There are regime attempts to advance and preparations by (rebel) forces to advance in the other direction. But the truth is that both sides have no capacity to advance,†said activist Ahmad al-Ahmad, who lives in opposition-held areas outside Hama. “It is attrition, except for the planes, which can target civilians.â€
Aleppo is likely to be the focus of the next phase of the war, with both sides preparing for a major battle, according to senior rebel leaders and opposition activists who spokes to the Associated Press.
Government forces have been mobilizing soldiers, equipment and ammunition in preparation for a military action in Aleppo, said Maj. Jamil Saleh, leader of Tajammu Alezzah, a Free Syrian Army faction that has received U.S.-delivered TOW anti-tank missiles.
He said his group, which operates primarily in Hama and Latakia, has sent troops to Aleppo to help the rebels ward off government advances. He described the airstrikes and artillery shelling in the former commercial capital for the last week as “preparatory†work for a major campaign.
Opposition activists also said a substantial redeployment of personnel has taken place recently, as contingents of the Syrian army and allied militias have moved from Palmyra to the vicinity of Aleppo.
“The cease-fire was a cover, because the regime never committed to it since the start of the cease-fire,†Saleh said in a telephone interview from Syria.
Nazeer al-Khatib, an activist who lives on the outskirts of Aleppo, said the city is being choked off by fighting. Government and allied forces are moving in on the main highway to rebel-held areas, blocking the only access to the rest of the country, he said.
Aleppo residents already are moving out of Syria’s largest city to rural areas to evade violence, but also out of fear of getting trapped amid shortages of food and rising prices.
The city was the focus of government efforts that succeeded in almost completely choking off rebels holed up in some neighborhoods before the U.S. and Russia engineered the cease-fire on Feb. 27.
The truce held surprisingly well for weeks, underlining the exhaustion on all sides. Formally called a “cessation of hostilities,†it was never meant to be complete because it excluded extremists such as the Islamic State group and its rival al-Qaida branch, the Nusra Front. The presence of Nusra in almost every contested area has allowed the Syrian army and its Russian allies to target opposition-held areas while also claiming not to have technically violated the cease-fire.