Syrian rebels patrol a town near the Turkey border.

Photo courtesy Getty Images

Andrew DuBois

Staff Writer

    Good news seemed to come for many residents of Syria towards the end of October due to a cease-fire that had been brokered between Lakhdar Brahimi and the Syrian military in honor of Eid al-Adha, an islamic holiday. Brahimi is in charge of peace negotiations for the United Nations and has been urging a cease-fire of some sort for many months.

    On October 25th the Syrian Government announced that they would observe the holiday and accept a cease-fire until the 29th. This encouraged many citizens to continue protests that had previously been shut down due to heavy fighting in the streets throughout the country. Many of the angry citizens could very clearly be heard chanting for the removal of the regime and in some cases the execution of Assad himself.

    Brahimi wrote on his blog in regards to the cease-fire, “There will be many ceasefire “violations,” and the likelihood of a return to fighting is still high. The ceasefire has no monitoring mechanism. After a few days (or even a few hours) of rest, fighters on both sides may feel like going at it again.”

    In a tragic turn of events towards the end of the day on October 26th a car bomb exploded killing over seventy people, effectively ending the cease-fire in Syria. The bloody war between the Assad regime and rebel forces continues to claim lives.