Syrian Government agrees to Cease-Fire

By Sarah Barchus

The Syrian government agreed to a cease-fire during the upcoming Muslim holiday, U.N.-Arab League envoy to Syria said Wednesday, ABC News reported.

Lakhdar Brahim said some rebels agreed to the 4-day cease-fire during the Eid al-Adha holiday, which starts Friday, ABC News reported. However, Foreign Ministry spokesman Jihad Makdessi said the General Command of the Army and the Syrian armed forces are still considering the effects of a cease-fire and will announce the final decision on Thursday, the Cable News Network reported.

After 19 months of violence and the massacre that the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said killed 16 Wednesday, opposition groups are skeptical that the government will follow through with the cease-fire, CNN reported.

"Based on our long experience in dealing with the Assad barbaric regime, we know that the Syrian government is just buying time and playing on words," spokesman for the Syrian National Council George Sabra said, CNN reported.

A cease-fire was central to the previous Syrian envoy and former U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan's six-point plan for a peaceful transition. However, both sides violated the agreement and a truce was not made, ABC News reported.

"The whole world knows that the Syrian regime cannot be trusted and doesn't have any credibility in fulfilling any promise that they make to anyone. ... The crisis is too complicated in Syria, and the Assad regime is trying a diversion," Sabra said, CNN reported.

Sabra said the rebel Free Syrian Army will agree to the cease-fire if the "Syrian regime doesn't try to take advantage of the momentum so they can gain more territories and prepare to launch more attacks to kill our innocent civilians," CNN reported.