Aleppo fighting casts a shadow on Syria peace talks

Clashes around Syria's second city Aleppo have killed at least 16 pro-regime fighters and 19 members of al-Qaeda's affiliate and allied rebel groups within a 24-hour period, a monitor said on Sunday.

"Fierce fighting raged past midnight (Sunday) on several fronts in the south of Aleppo province," said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Lebanese Shia Hizballah fighters were fighting alongside regime troops and other loyalist militia against militants and rebels, the monitoring group said.

"Shelling and fighting in the past 24 hours has left 19 Syrian and non-Syrian members of al-Nusra dead... while 16 pro-regime fighters were also killed," the Observatory said, adding that one of the militants had blown himself up.

A truce brokered by the United States and Russia, which back opposing sides in Syria's war, does not apply to the fight against Islamist militants.

Across much of Syria, the 27 February truce has largely held. In areas where al-Nusra fights alongside allied rebel groups, violence has been frequent in spite of the ceasefire.

Around Aleppo in particular, "the ceasefire has all but collapsed on the main front lines," Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman said.

"Al-Nusra, (Islamist rebel group) Ahrar al-Sham and their allies are pushing an offensive to take back turf seized around Aleppo by the regime before the truce came into force," he told AFP.

The civilian death toll has dropped as air raids and barrel bomb strikes by the regime on residential areas have all but ceased, Abdel Rahman said.

"The violence around front lines has by no means stopped," he added.

Furthermore, rebels have frequently shelled Sheikh Maqsud, a mainly Kurdish area of Aleppo, leaving dozens of civilians dead since the truce began, he said.

An official from the opposition said in an interview published on Sunday that Syria's ceasefire was "about to collapse".

Ceasefire will 'collapse'

Meanwhile, an official from the opposition said in an interview published on Sunday that Syria's ceasefire was "about to collapse".

"Over the last 10 days we have seen a very serious deterioration and the ceasefire is about to collapse," Bassma Kodmani, a member of the High Negotiations Committee of the Syrian opposition, told Journal du Dimanche, adding that "the use of barrel bombs has resumed".

"The US-Russian mission monitoring the ceasefire is powerless," she told the French newspaper.

"A blow was dealt to the opposition, for sure," Kodmani admitted, adding Russia had "attacked the supply lines of the brigades of the moderate opposition on the ground until the cessation of hostilities intervened in February".

She said the withdrawal of Russian forces announced mid-March "indicates to those who support Bashar that this assistance will not be unlimited and unconditional."

"The challenge is whether Russia will be able to dictate the terms of negotiations with Damascus," she said.

Over the last 10 days we have seen a very serious deterioration and the ceasefire is about to collapse. - Bassma Kodmani

Rescuing the talks

On Sunday, UN Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura arrived in Damascus to meet with Syrian foreign minister Walid Muallem, just days before the Geneva talks aimed at ending the Syrian war resume on 13 April.

Sources told The New Arab that de Mistura's tour, which began in Moscow last week, followed by Damascus, with Tehran next on the list, was part of attempts to prevent the talks from collapsing, as no significant progress has been made yet.

"The third round of talks in Geneva will build on common positive points made in the previous round, as well as using these points to conceptualise a new constitution, or at least constitutional principles to govern the transitional period," the sources added.

"However, this depends on international support - especially from the US and Russia - to turn the Geneva talks into serious negotiations."

In December, the UN Security Council passed a resolution that paved the way for the Geneva talks and called for elections in Syria to be held 18 months after a transitional government is agreed.

The fate of President Assad is a major sticking point in the talks.

We maintain that we must decide on a transitional authority with full powers, including those of President Assad, while the regime mentions a government of national unity with a few opponents and independents. - Bassma Kodmani

"We maintain that we must decide on a transitional authority with full powers, including those of President Assad, while the regime mentions a government of national unity with a few opponents and independents," Kodmani said.

"Nobody sees how to reconcile these two visions."

She said US President Barack Obama had "let the Russians take all the cards in the game, he has no political will, so the United States could afford to be more involved".

Syria's conflict erupted in March 2011 with anti-government protests but has since evolved into a multi-front war drawing in regional powers.

More than 270,000 people have been killed and millions have fled their homes since the beginning of the conflict.