BEIRUT -- The Syrian opposition coalition negotiating in Geneva said Tuesday that there can be no solution in Syria with President Bashar Assad in power and called for international monitors to observe a cease-fire agreement that has all but collapsed.
The head of the U.S.- and Saudi-backed coalition, Riad Hijab, called on the United Nations Security Council to take firm actions against truce violators, a day after the opposition said it is suspending its participation in talks in Geneva as violence rages at home.
Hijab also said a clear timetable for a political transition in Syria is a must, and such a transition can't include Assad.
"There cannot be a solution in Syria while Bashar Assad is present," he said.
As the Geneva talks teetered on the brink of collapse, Syrian activists said airstrikes targeted two opposition-held cities in northwestern Syria, killing 44 civilians. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said three children were among the victims and that it expects the death toll to rise further.
The group said the cities of Maarat al-Numan and Kafranbel in Idlib province, both known as opposition strongholds, were hit. Observatory chief Rami Abdurrahman said the strikes were among the deadliest since the cease-fire took effect in Syria at the end of February. He did not say who was behind the airstrikes.
Meanwhile, Russia's ambassador to the U.N. said extremists took control of the Syrian opposition group, effectively hijacking the Syrian peace talks. Moscow is a major ally of Assad.
Alexei Borodavkin told the Russian news agency Tass on Tuesday that "the suspension of the Syrian opposition delegation's participation in peace talks is proof that, unfortunately, extremists took control within the delegation."
Borodavkin said the talks will continue without the groups that pulled out, implying that Saudi Arabia was backing extremists. He said opposition groups "other than the 'Riyadh' groups" would still participate in the peace talks.
Fighting, meanwhile, intensified in Syria as government forces sought to repel a rebel offensive on a government stronghold. The rebels had said they launched the offensive in rural Latakia province in response to government violations of the truce and to "redress injustices." Government warplanes also bombed areas in the central Homs and Hama provinces and in northern Idlib province, activists said.
The conflict, now in its sixth year, has killed 250,000 people.
In Geneva, Hijab said during a lengthy news conference that the opposition coalition can't take part in talks while the Syrian regime carries on with its military campaign and denies humanitarian access to besieged areas or ones held by the rebels. His comments came despite earlier remarks by the U.N. envoy who said the opposition will remain in Geneva to engage in technical discussions until he can "take stock" of the situation Friday.
"The United Nations Security Council must meet and reconsider this [cease-fire] agreement and there must be international monitors on the ground ... [to] decide who violates this truce," Hijab said. "We are not waiting for re-evaluation on Thursday or Friday. For us, as of yesterday, we are out of the political process."
Hijab said he will be leaving Geneva with other members of the delegation. But he said a technical team will remain in the city.
Staffan de Mistura, the U.N. envoy for Syria, on Monday had said the opposition bloc will remain in Geneva for "technical discussions," but its representatives are refusing to take part in the negotiations at the U.N. offices.
While the indirect talks were to focus on political transition, the warring sides became bogged down on Assad's role in it. Aided by Russian air power, which entered Syrian skies in late September, the Syrian army and allied militiamen have reversed the tide of the war in recent months, making rapid advances against its opponents.
Hijab said the government had benefited from the cease-fire to advance on rebel positions while its allies continued to supply it with weapons and fighters to change the balance of power on the ground.
Hijab complained that supplies and ammunition were denied to rebel forces during the truce period. He said he hoped the U.S., a main backer of some rebel groups, would continue supplying weapons.
"We will fight no matter the circumstances. We will fight even with stones and will not surrender," he said.
About 600,000 people are trapped in Aleppo, which is under siege, Hijab said, calling on the government to stop blocking aid supplies and free detainees as well halt attacks on civilians.
The cease-fire agreement has frayed in many parts of the country.
On Tuesday, activists reported government airstrikes and violence in Homs, Idlib and Hama. Under a blanket of airstrikes, government troops restored control of most of the villages and hills it lost to rebels a day earlier during their offensive in Latakia province, according to the Local Coordination Committee, an activist-operated media forum, and al-Manar TV, affiliated with the pro-Assad Lebanese Hezbollah group.
The Observatory said at least five people were killed, including a child, in government airstrikes near Maaret al-Numan in Idlib province.
Meanwhile, the Coordination Committee reported government airstrikes, including barrel bombs, in multiple locations in Homs province. The group said there was intense fighting in Kafer-Laha in central Homs.
Putin, Obama talk
Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. counterpart Barack Obama discussed the Syrian crisis in phone talks Monday. They agreed that the two countries will step up coordination, including in the military sphere, to strengthen the truce and improve humanitarian access, according to the Kremlin.
Russia wants the peace talks to resume, presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on a conference call Tuesday. But terrorist groups are trying to seize territory in various areas of Syria, and "of course we believe that we can't allow this to happen and we can't give up the fight with these terrorist organizations," he said.
Peskov reaffirmed Russia's support for Assad and said Russia would continue to oppose terrorist groups such as the al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front and the Islamic State, which are not included in the cease-fire agreement.
Complicating the picture, Ahrar as-Sham -- a group that has signed up to the truce -- has joined in attacks by the Nusra Front in the coastal area of Latakia, according to the Observatory.
There is tactical cooperation between Nusra and Ahrar as-Sham, though government forces have been pressuring it and others involved in the cease-fire into acts of self-defense, a Western diplomat said.
While the cease-fire is holding in many areas, the increase in fighting "is particularly worrisome," the U.N.'s de Mistura said.
Russia plans to ask the U.N. Security Council to add armed groups that are sabotaging the truce to the list of terrorist organizations, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said after talks with his French counterpart Jean-Marc Ayrault in Moscow on Tuesday.
French President Francois Hollande also expressed concern over the suspension of Geneva peace talks on ending Syria's civil war, saying the development was "very worrying."
Hollande, who spoke during a visit to Syria's neighbor and Western ally Jordan, said the decision by a Syrian opposition delegation to halt talks in Switzerland could quickly lead to renewed fighting, more airstrikes and suffering among civilians.
A collapse of the talks would mean "no hope," Hollande said during a meeting with Jordan's King Abdullah II, and underscored the need for a political solution to the conflict.
Jordan has been significantly affected by the fighting next door. Since last year, Jordan has further tightened restrictions on the entry of refugees, causing thousands to be stranded in a remote border area in the desert. Jordan's government said earlier this week that the number of Syrians waiting to be let in has reached 50,000.
"I know what you are facing in this area," Hollande told Abdullah, referring to the extremists. "The threat is not a virtual one, it's a real threat at your borders."
Jordan has argued that its security comes first and that it can only permit Syrians to enter after careful security vetting. Human-rights groups have warned that refugees endure tough conditions and have urged Jordan to carry out the vetting at better facilities in the country.
Hollande said Jordan has "shown great solidarity, and there are still refugees coming from Syria fleeing the fighting around Raqqa," referring to an Islamic State stronghold.
"You need to give them the support they need, but at the same time make sure that there are no terrorists infiltrating among the refugees," Hollande added.
Information for this article was contributed by Sarah El Deeb, Jamey Keaten, Philip Issa, Katherine Jacobsen and Karin Laub of The Associated Press and by Henry Meyer, Dana Khraiche and Ilya Arkhipov of Bloomberg News.
A Section on 04/20/2016