Ziad Al-Halabi, Baladi News, Aleppo
The ceasefire truce in the city of Aleppo that has been brokered by Washington and Moscow late on Wednesday has entered into force on Thursday morning. The early hours of the truce were very quiet ; not even a bullet was shot, but the people were very worried expecting the regime air force to break the truce at any moment. On the other hand, the regime did break the truce by bombarding the immediate vicinity of Khan Tuman with 12 barrel bombs on Thursday morning in the first violation of ceasefire that the regime didn't commit to even for 48 hours.
Abou Sameer, a pharmacist from Al-Kallaseh town said: “We welcome the truce considering it a break because the regime has severely tortured us by its violent aerial bombardment with barrel and cluster bombs on our crowded city last month and it has also committed several massacres against our people and children displacing hundreds of families towards the countryside then deliberately bombing the roads they used to reach there”. “The regime as we know is unjust so we don't think it will commit to the truce because killing and displacing people is its joy”, Abou Sameer added.
Military commander, Abou Asama said in his turn: “we have accepted the truce to stop the regime from bombarding our people with all kinds of weapons as the inhabitants of Aleppo had no break last month due to the regime's escalated bombardment on the residential neighborhoods knowing that the fronts are open and we are ready to fight, but still they resort to killing and displacing innocent people.”
Marwan Al-Kurdi, a militant in the Syrian Free Army told Baladi News correspondent that during the previous truce we witnessed artillery shells falling on the villages of northern countryside of Aleppo; they violated the ceasefire hundreds of times and nobody held them accountable. We witnessed the massacres that regime warplanes committed in Aleppo killing and displacing hundreds of people. In my opinion, the truce will continue for several hours and people will be able to catch their breath, but the regime will resume the bombardment more fiercely than before”, he added.
Abou Jaber, a grocer from Bustan Al-Kasser sees that most people are afraid from what follows the truce, adding “we remember the massacres that were committed by regime's warplanes and artillery after the previous truce. I don't actually think of the calmness of the truce hours, I'm rather busy thinking where and when will the next massacre occur and how many lives would it claim.
It's noteworthy that Aleppo has witnessed a severe bombardment by regime forces last month resulting in hundreds of martyrs and casualties including children, women, and doctors as the bombardment targeted crowded residential neighborhoods, hospitals, civil defense centers and vital facilities.