Quiet as southern Syria ceasefire begins ahead of talks

Quiet as southern Syria ceasefire begins ahead of talks

Opposition fighters drive a tank in Syrias southwestern Quneitra province in June 2017

AFP, 9 JUL 2017 - A ceasefire brokered by the United States, Russia and Jordan brought quiet Sunday to frontlines in southern Syria ahead of fresh UN-sponsored peace talks on the country's six-year conflict.

A monitor said clashes and shelling had halted in the three southern provinces covered by the truce, Daraa, Quneitra, and Sweida, as it went into effect at noon local time.

The ceasefire deal was announced Friday by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, and comes as Syrian government and opposition delegations are due to attend a new round of talks in Geneva from Monday.

'The main fronts in the three provinces between regime forces and opposition factions have seen a cessation of hostilities and shelling since this morning, with the exception of a few scattered shells fired on Daraa city before noon,' said Rami 

 Rahman, the head of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

The monitor said the ceasefire was holding by early Sunday evening. In Washington, US President Donald Trump wrote on Twitter Sunday that he was pleased fighting had not resumed.

'Syrian ceasefire seems to be holding. Many lives can be saved. Came out of meeting. Good!' he tweeted.

The Syrian regime had announced its own unilateral ceasefire on Monday but fighting had continued on front lines in the three provinces.

The ceasefire deal comes after regime allies Russia and Iran and rebel backer Turkey agreed during talks in May in the Kazakh capital Astana to set up four 'de-escalation' zones in Syria.

Implementation of that deal has been delayed as the three sides try to agree who will monitor the zones, one of which is located in southern Syria.

https://www.mojahedin.org/newsen/56616/Quiet-as-southern-Syria-ceasefire-begins-ahead-of-talks