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Ammon News - AMMONNEWS - Syria’s main opposition on Tuesday lamented a crumbled truce, calling for major powers to meet on the crisis, as Russia urged for peace talks to continue.

The chief coordinator of the main opposition bloc, Riad Hijab, called on Tuesday for major powers to urgently meet to re-evaluate a truce that he said was no longer in place and said there could be no talks while the Syrian people continued to suffer.

“We are waiting for the International Syrian Support Group to take decisive measures against the one who is killing the Syrian people,” Riad Hijab told reporters, saying the powers had to assess the cessation of hostilities that had “ended”.

As far as the High Negotiations Committee (HNC) was concerned, they were “out” of the negotiations, he said, although some HNC experts would remain for meetings.

“There will be no solution with President Bashar al-Assad in power, he is dreaming,” he said, adding that he, and other officials were planning to leave Geneva on Tuesday.

Russia unequivocally supports the continuation of Syrian peace talks in Geneva, the Kremlin said on Tuesday, commenting on the decision by the mainstream Syrian opposition to take a pause in the negotiations.

“We believe this (the peace talks) is a necessary condition,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in a conference call with journalists.

“The need to continue this dialogue and maintain the ceasefire regime was stressed yesterday during the telephone conversation between President Putin and President Obama.”

The Western-backed opposition High Negotiations Committee said in a letter to rebel fighters that government military advances meant a ceasefire was effectively over and it was calling a postponement in the talks.

Meanwhile, fighting intensified Tuesday in northern and central Syria as government forces sought to repel rebel advances on a government stronghold.

Rebels and activists reported fighting in rural parts of northern Latakia province, a government stronghold, one day after rebels launched a new offensive against government forces because of what they said were repeated ceasefire violations.

Al-Manar TV, affiliated with the pro-Assad Lebanese Hezbollah group, said government forces pushed rebel forces from areas they seized a day earlier. Rebel groups posted videos of Talet al-Malik, Nahshaba and other areas in Jabal al-Akrad they claimed were seized during their new push.

*Agencies