Syrian FSA defies threats over Moadamiyah pullout

Source: ALJAZEERA


Syrian armed opposition groups have rejected the government's demand to lay down their arms and withdraw "unconditionally" from a Damascus-area town by Monday, a spokesman for the Free Syrian Army (FSA) has told Al Jazeera.
"We will continue to defend the town and will not stop doing so no matter what," Abu al-Khair al-Attar, a member of the FSA's negotiating committee, said.
When asked whether the FSA will comply to the government's conditions, al-Attar said: "We will not lay down our weapons as long as the cause that led us to take up arms is still there."

He also said that local opposition factions "will not close the door of negotiations with the regime".
On Saturday, Syrian government forces blocked the last entrance to Moadamiyah and threatened to launch an offensive on the town if rebel groups, including the FSA, did not "disarm and surrender unconditionally" by Monday, according to the Moadamiyah Media Office.

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In a press release, the media office said that "the chilling message was delivered during a meeting between the town’s negotiation committee and representatives of the regime".

Moadamiyah has been a flashpoint town throughout the ongoing Syrian war, which started as an unarmed uprising against President Bashar al-Assad in March 2011. Since then, more than 250,000 people have been killed, according to statistics by the United Nations.
Chemical attacks
The reported threat comes at a time when nearly three years of government-imposed siege have resulted in a grave humanitarian situation. Last week, government forces reportedly killed five residents when they targeted Moadamiyah in a chemical weapons attack, according to activists.
Speaking to Agence France Press, a Syrian security official dismissed claims that government forces carried out a chemical attack as "baseless".
"With the passage cut off, and the lack of medicine after dozens of injuries due to shelling with barrel bombs and toxic gas, people are deeply fearful after the threat," Dani Qabbani, a Moadamiyah-based media activist, told Al Jazeera.
He said there was a truce between government forces and opposition groups since March 2014, but that the Syrian military has increasingly violated it in recent months.
On Saturday, Syrian government helicopters killed three rebels in Moadamiyya when it dropped barrel bombs on the besieged community, according to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.