DAMASCUS, August 2 (NNN-AGENCIES ) – Syria has agreed on a truce in the north-western region of Idlib starting later Thursday night, the state-run Syrian News Agency (SANA) reported.
Citing a military source, the agency said the truce will take place on the condition that a Turkish-Russian deal that was reached in Sochi in September to create a demilitarized buffer zone in Idlib is implemented.
The agency reported that rebel groups should retreat 20 kilometres from the demilitarized zone and that jihadist and rebel groups should also withdraw heavy and medium weaponry from the zone, as per the Sochi agreement.
Despite the announcement, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), which monitors violence in Syria, said the “first hour after midnight started with shelling continuing from regime forces on battlefronts in areas in the northwestern countryside of Hama.”
Residents of Idlib city told dpa that planes are still hovering and they have carried several strikes on the countryside of Idlib.
Syrian opposition sources were cautious to comment late Thursday on the Syrian government announcement.
The Sochi agreement provides that a buffer zone in a 15-to-20-square-kilometre area is created to separate Syrian troops and rebels in Idlib. It is meant to be monitored by Russian and Turkish troops.
In April, Syrian government forces backed by their allies, the Russians, started a wide-scale offensive on north-western Syria, mainly targeting Hama and Idlib, the last major opposition strongholds in the country.
The Syrian government announcement came as a new round of talks on Syria was held in the capital of Kazakhstan, Nur-Sultan.
The meeting is expected to be attended by delegates from Iran, Russia and Turkey, the government of Syria and the Syrian armed opposition.
Representatives from Jordan, as well as Lebanon and Iraq, will participate for the first time in the negotiating process as observers.
The two-day talks are supposed to tackle the issue of prisoners, the fate of Idlib and the formation of a constitutional committee for Syria.
The Idlib offensive has so far killed more than 800 civilians, according to the SOHR. It has also displaced some 400,000 people, according to UN estimates.
On Thursday, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres ordered an investigation into the destruction of hospitals, schools and other facilities in Idlib.
An internal board of inquiry will investigate the “destruction of, or damage to, facilities on the deconfliction list and UN-supported facilities in the area,” a statement issued by Guterres’ office said.
It also called on all parties involved to cooperate with the board once it has been established.
The UN Security Council previously requested such an investigation.
The statement issued by Guterres cited a series of incidents in north-western Syria since Russia and Turkey signed a memorandum in September last year on the stabilization of the Idlib de-escalation zone.
Russian and Syrian planes have continued to mount attacks on rebel areas around Idlib. Hospitals, schools and other institutions have been hit.
The United Nations have grown increasingly worried that the sharing of their geographic coordinates with the warring factions, which the UN did with the intention of protecting civilian infrastructure, has resulted in the deliberate targeting of the facilities.
Last week, the government intensified its airstrikes on rebel-held areas, especially in the province of Idlib, killing many people.
The offensive is taking place despite the signing of the de-escalation zone memorandum.
NNN-AGENCIES
