White House spokesman Josh Earnest dismissed the more than a dozen reported outbreaks of violence in Syria over the weekend as temporary and expected deviations from the ceasefire plan that was supposed to take effect on Friday.
“We’ve obviously been closely monitoring reports since the ceasefire went into effect on Friday afternoon, Washington time,” Earnest told reporters. “Since that time, we’re aware that there have been some reports of violations, some concerns that have been raised.”
“That is consistent with our expectations heading into this process, which is that we did anticipate that there would be reports of violations, and that we would encounter some potholes on the road to implementing this successfully,” he added.
As of Monday morning, reports from Syria said there were at least a dozen violent incidents so far. Reuters said the deal was “quickly unraveling” in the face of violations by Syria, which violated the agreement “15 times within the first day,” as well as violations by Russia and Hezbollah.
France has reportedly been demanding updated reports on those violations, Reuters said.
Longer-term peace talks stalled earlier this year after Syrian opposition groups said they couldn’t participate in the face of bombing from the Russian government. Getting Russia to agree to the ceasefire was a key step in getting the peace process back on track, but the White House was acknowledging even last week that the ceasefire may not happen as smoothly as they want.
