Syrian rebel group studies local truce near Damascus

BEIRUT — A powerful Syrian rebel group said on Thursday it was studying a local ceasefire proposal put forward by an international mediator aimed at halting fighting with government forces near Damascus.

The comments by the spokesman for Islam Army appeared to suggest the initiative was not dead, even as a lull in fighting between government-held Damascus and the rebel-held Eastern Ghouta area gave way to renewed bombardment on Thursday afternoon.

Spokesman Islam Alloush did not give the identity of the mediator who he said had presented the ceasefire proposal to a local notable in the opposition-held area, who in turn had presented it to rebel and civilian groups.

"We, in Islam Army are studying the subject in the leadership council," Alloush told Reuters, speaking via a web-based messaging system. He declined to give further details.

In an interview with a Syrian radio station, Ali Haider, a government minister responsible for national reconciliation, said news reports of a ceasefire were untrue. But he did not say whether or not ceasefire talks were under way.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a UK-based organisation that tracks the war, reported on Wednesday that a 15-day ceasefire was expected to be declared soon. On Thursday, however, it said the talks had failed.

A pro-government news page on Facebook, Damascus Now, identified the mediators as Russian, saying they had been in contact with rebel leaders. It said the rebels had asked for a 15-day truce, but the request had been rejected for now and there was no change in military operations in the area.

It would be the second local ceasefire brokered in recent months with foreign help, even as the war escalates elsewhere following Russia's military intervention on the side of President Bashar Assad.

In late September, Iran and Turkey, which back opposing sides in the conflict, helped bring about local ceasefires in the town of Zabadani near the Lebanese border and in two villages in northwestern province of Idlib.

The rebel-held Eastern Ghouta is situated to the east of Damascus and provides a base of operations for Islam Army, which is an enemy of Daesh.