Brief ceasefire between Syria regime, rebels ends

BEIRUT — A truce between Syrian regime forces and rebel groups in three key towns ended early Saturday as the warring parties resumed clashes and shelling, a monitor and a mediator said.

Pro-regime forces, including Lebanon's Shiite Hizbollah militia, had agreed on a 48-hour ceasefire until dawn on Saturday in the rebel bastion of Zabadani and the government-held villages of Fuaa and Kafraya.

"The ceasefire has collapsed in Zabadani, Fuaa, and Kafraya this morning," said Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group.

"There are clashes and shelling in Zabadani, and opposition fighters are shelling Fuaa and Kafraya."

He had no details on who began firing and whether there were any casualties. 

A Kafraya resident speaking to AFP by phone said "dozens of shells" had fallen on the town since early Saturday.

Fuaa and Kafraya, the last two regime-held villages in Syria's northwest Idlib province, have been surrounded by a rebel alliance including Al Qaeda's affiliate Al Nusra Front.

The siege came in retaliation for a fierce offensive on Zabadani, along Syria's border with Lebanon, by pro-regime forces early last month.

Warring parties were negotiating to reach a broader deal including rebel fighters leaving Zabadani and the evacuation of civilians from Fuaa and Kafraya, whose residents are minority Shiite Muslims. 

But the talks failed overnight. 

The resumption of hostilities was confirmed by Mohammad Abu Qassem, secretary general of Syria's Tadamun (Solidarity) Party who was mediating the truce.

"The truce has ended, the negotiations have failed, and military operations have resumed in Zabadani, Fuaa and Kafraya," he told AFP. 

It is the second time that a ceasefire for the three towns has collapsed this month.

The rebels had also sought the release of prisoners held by the regime.

Syria's multi-front war has seen fierce fighting among regime forces, Kurdish militia, rebel groups, and jihadists including the extremist Daesh group.

Daesh militants have clashed with government forces, Kurdish fighters and rebel groups. 

The observatory reported that a fierce attack by Daesh on the rebel stronghold of Marea in northen Aleppo province had killed dozens of people.

Abdel Rahman said at least 32 rebel fighters and 20 Daesh militants — three of them suicide bombers — died in the assault including a suicide bombing that killed six civilians.

Elsewhere, a car bomb left five people dead and 24 wounded in Syria's central city of Homs, the official news agency SANA said on Saturday.

The toll was confirmed by the observatory, which specified that the explosion took place in the Musalat neighbourhood, whose residents are from the Alawite minority from which Syria's ruling clan hails. 

More than 240,000 people have been killed since Syria's conflict began in March 2011, and half of the country's population has been displaced by the war.