Roundup: Domestic opposition welcomes Aleppo freeze battle plan

Domestically-based Syrian opposition parties expressed their support to the freeze battle plan in Aleppo province put forward by UN envoy to Syria, Staffan de Mistura, particularly after the Syrian government accepted it.

The National Coordination Body (NCB), the main political opposition group at home, said it welcomes any effort that could help curbing the bloodletting in Syria and lead to a political solution to the country's long-running conflict.

"The National Coordination Body supports any step that could be conducive in halting the bloodletting in Syria and we support this principle as long as it serves as a part of a broader political process across all of Syria," Yahya Aziz, a member of the NCB, told Xinhua on Wednesday.

A day earlier, de Mistura said that "the government of Syria has indicated to me its willingness to halt all aerial bombing, all sorts and all types of aerial bombing and artillery shelling for a period of six weeks all over the city of Aleppo from the date which will be announced by Damascus."

Late last year, de Mistura put forward his ideas about a cessation of battles in Aleppo city in northern Syria to be a prelude for a broader pacification in later stages in other Syrian cities.

After deliberations with influential parties and key regional players, the UN envoy returned to Damascus this February, holding "new ideas" to prop up his initial proposal. The Syrian state media said the recent talks between de Mistura and President Bashar al-Assad were "positive and constructive".

As de Mistura was announcing the Syrian government approval of the plan, the Syrian army and allied militants escalated their attacks against the jihadist rebels in the northern countryside of Aleppo, a development that was read by analysts as a way to consolidate positions and isolate the rebels in parts of the city of Aleppo ahead of the possible implementation of the plan.

Aziz of the NCB told Xinhua that the escalating conflict in Aleppo, or any part of the country, would not help reining in the chaos, noting that no one would emerge victorious from the militarized conflict under the military handling of the crisis.

"The battles and the attack and retreat tactic wouldn't settle the conflict between the warring sides. From our point of view, no one is capable of settling the conflict in its favor," he said.

Meanwhile, Maher Murhej, head of the oppositional Youth Party, said that the freeze battle plan is a positive step toward a political solution and would succeed but not on a larger scale.

"Any peaceful efforts to halt the battles, even on some fronts only, would be a positive step. However, I really don't think that the freeze battles plan would succeed on all parts of Aleppo due to the numerous rebel groups there," he noted, referring to a number of rebel factions that had totally rejected de Mistura's plan.

Even de Mistura himself said there is "no illusion," but still "some hope" for a political solution to the ongoing crisis in Syria.

"Let me be frank, I have no illusions because based on past experiences, this will be a difficult issue to be achieved," de Mistura said.

Still, Murhej said the plan would be a start of some sort of pacification in Aleppo, where civilians saw one of the most ferocious violence that has engulfed the country since nearly four years ago.

"It could succeed to halt the violence and reduce the destruction in some neighborhoods only, in terms of achieving a halt in the rebels' shelling of government controlled areas where civilians are caught in the middle of the conflict," Murhej said, noting that the task is not going to be an easy one.

"I think it would be a tough task but most importantly is that we have started walking on the political track with the good intentions of the Syrian government and some of the rebel factions to achieve a cease fire that we hope could cover all of Aleppo," he remarked. Endit