World leaders hail `real progress` in Syria despite fresh strikes

AFP, Paris :World leaders hailed “real progress” in Syria on Friday, but fresh air strikes showed the fragility of the week-old truce and the many obstacles still in the way of peace talks. Warplanes struck a key rebel bastion east of the Syrian capital for the first time since the fragile truce began last weekend, a monitor said.”Two air strikes hit the edge of the town of Douma in Eastern Ghouta and one person was killed,” said Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. He said the strikes were conducted by either Syrian or Russian planes. Eastern Ghouta, the largest rebel bastion east of Damascus, was regularly and fiercely bombarded by government forces, but has been relatively calm since the ceasefire brokered by the United States and Russia.”This cessation of hostilities is by no means perfect but it has reduced the level of violence, it has created an opportunity for some humanitarian access,” said British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond after meeting with his French, German and EU counterparts in Paris.The group said the focus now was on convincing all parties to return to UN-brokered peace talks in Switzerland.”We want a speedy resumption of the negotiations in Geneva, but two conditions must be fulfilled: access for all Syrians to humanitarian aid, and full respect of the ceasefire,” said French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault.The group also met with Riad Hijab, head of Syria’s main opposition body, the High Negotiations Committee which has expressed scepticism that the regime will stick to the truce.”We’ve encouraged Dr Hijab, whatever his reservations, to be prepared to return to the discussions in Geneva,” said Hammond.For the first time in years, hundreds of Syrians nationwide took advantage of the truce to resume anti-government protests under the slogan “The Revolution Continues!” Waving the three-starred tricolour flag that has become the uprising’s emblem, demonstrators in opposition-held areas of Aleppo, Damascus, Daraa and Homs called for the downfall of President Bashar al-Assad’s regime.