Al Jazeera News :
Russia halted air strikes in Syria on Saturday in accordance with a ceasefire brokered by Moscow and Washinton as part of efforts to gain momentum for peace talks to end the nearly five-year war.
Russia entered the Syrian conflict on behalf of ally President Bashar al-Assad in September 2015, and its air power has played a significant role in the recent major gains by government forces.
“Russia’s air force fully halted bombing in the green zone – that is in those areas and those armed groups which had sent us ceasefire requests,” Lt-Gen Sergei Rudskoi, a senior representative of the General Staff, told reporters. A lull in fighting was reported throughout most of Syria on Saturday, hours after the US-Russia brokered “cessation of hostilities” agreement took effect.
The UN Security Council unanimously passed a vote late on Friday to support the pause in fighting in Syria, and demanded that all parties to the agreement fulfill their commitments to end hostilities.
The ceasefire began at midnight Damascus time on Saturday (22:00 GMT Friday).
“The situation is calm – the truce is largely holding – for the first time in many years,” said Al Jazeera’s Omar al-Salah, reporting from Turkey’s Gaziantep on the border with Syria.
“The air base in Latakia, which the Russians use for their air strikes, was very calm as well.”
Rudskoi said while Russia would continue air strikes against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and al-Qaeda’s branch in Syria, al-Nusra Front, it was keeping its aircraft on the ground for now “to avoid any possible mistakes”. Rudskoi said
Russia had given the US maps showing the location of opposition groups pledging to abide by the ceasefire, as well as ISIL and al-Nusra units. He said 74 opposition units – including more than 6,100 fighters – had agreed to adhere to the truce.
While there were no reports of air strikes or heavy artillery fire, violence was reported on Saturday.
A Syrian rebel group in the country’s northwest said it came under attack from government ground forces at 4am (02:00 GMT) in what it called a breach of the cessation of hostilities plan.
Three fighters from the rebel First Coastal Division were killed while repelling the attack in the Jabal Turkman area near the Turkish border in Latakia province, Fadi Ahmad, the group’s spokesman, told Reuters news agency. There were also reports of Syrian helicopters dropping barrel bombs. The Syrian military could not immediately be reached for comment. Meanwhile, a suicide car bomb exploded on Saturday on the edge of Salamiyeh, a government-held central town, killing two people and wounding four others, the state news agency said. UN Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura said any use of force must be proportionate and a last resort if fresh fighting breaks the cessation of hostilities. “No doubt there will be no shortage of attempts to undermine this process. We are ready for it,” he said.
Countries backing the Syrian peace process meet on Saturday in Geneva to assess the situation.
Russia halted air strikes in Syria on Saturday in accordance with a ceasefire brokered by Moscow and Washinton as part of efforts to gain momentum for peace talks to end the nearly five-year war.
Russia entered the Syrian conflict on behalf of ally President Bashar al-Assad in September 2015, and its air power has played a significant role in the recent major gains by government forces.
“Russia’s air force fully halted bombing in the green zone – that is in those areas and those armed groups which had sent us ceasefire requests,” Lt-Gen Sergei Rudskoi, a senior representative of the General Staff, told reporters. A lull in fighting was reported throughout most of Syria on Saturday, hours after the US-Russia brokered “cessation of hostilities” agreement took effect.
The UN Security Council unanimously passed a vote late on Friday to support the pause in fighting in Syria, and demanded that all parties to the agreement fulfill their commitments to end hostilities.
The ceasefire began at midnight Damascus time on Saturday (22:00 GMT Friday).
“The situation is calm – the truce is largely holding – for the first time in many years,” said Al Jazeera’s Omar al-Salah, reporting from Turkey’s Gaziantep on the border with Syria.
“The air base in Latakia, which the Russians use for their air strikes, was very calm as well.”
Rudskoi said while Russia would continue air strikes against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and al-Qaeda’s branch in Syria, al-Nusra Front, it was keeping its aircraft on the ground for now “to avoid any possible mistakes”. Rudskoi said
Russia had given the US maps showing the location of opposition groups pledging to abide by the ceasefire, as well as ISIL and al-Nusra units. He said 74 opposition units – including more than 6,100 fighters – had agreed to adhere to the truce.
While there were no reports of air strikes or heavy artillery fire, violence was reported on Saturday.
A Syrian rebel group in the country’s northwest said it came under attack from government ground forces at 4am (02:00 GMT) in what it called a breach of the cessation of hostilities plan.
Three fighters from the rebel First Coastal Division were killed while repelling the attack in the Jabal Turkman area near the Turkish border in Latakia province, Fadi Ahmad, the group’s spokesman, told Reuters news agency. There were also reports of Syrian helicopters dropping barrel bombs. The Syrian military could not immediately be reached for comment. Meanwhile, a suicide car bomb exploded on Saturday on the edge of Salamiyeh, a government-held central town, killing two people and wounding four others, the state news agency said. UN Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura said any use of force must be proportionate and a last resort if fresh fighting breaks the cessation of hostilities. “No doubt there will be no shortage of attempts to undermine this process. We are ready for it,” he said.
Countries backing the Syrian peace process meet on Saturday in Geneva to assess the situation.
