“In accordance with the agreements with the Turkish side, the ceasefire was imposed in the Idlib de-escalation zone from 14:00 [Moscow time] on January 9, 2010,” General Yuri Borenkov, chief of the Russian Center for Reconciliation of the Opposing Parties in Syria, told reporters on Thursday, reported Russian news agency TASS.
The Russian general urged the heads of jihadi and rebel factions to cease their “armed provocations,” claiming that the groups have violated ceasefire deals in Idlib, which is the last stronghold of rebels in the country. It is controlled by the former Syrian franchise of al-Qaeda Jabhat al-Nusra, now rebranded alongside other groups in a coalition called Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS). Over three million civilians, mainly women and children, are trapped in the province, many of them displaced from other parts of the country.
This is the latest of several attempts to end hostilities in Idlib. In September 2018, following fears of large scale destruction and displacement and at the urging of world powers such as the United States, Russia and Turkey reached a ceasefire deal to prevent a full scale regime offensive on the province.
The agreement included setting up a buffer zone cleared of heavy weapons and rebel forces, and under the watch of Turkish observations posts. It was, however, repeatedly violated by both sides.
In August 2019, Russia announced a unilateral ceasefire, but it was followed by the regime overtaking large swaths of territory from the rebels and displacing thousands of people.
In mid-December, the Syrian regime, backed by Russia, launched another offensive and has driven back the rebels, but at the cost of the civilian population. According to the latest report from the UN’s humanitarian response team, at least 300,000 civilians have fled their homes in Idlib since mid-December. The total number of the people displaced in Idlib over the past eight months has reached 700,000 and at least 1,300 civilians were killed between May and August of last year due to airstrikes and shelling in Idlib.
Since the December escalation, 36 children have died, according to Save the Children.
“The number of casualties in Idlib continues to grow. They may just be numbers to many, but to their families, they are dearly loved children whose lives have been cut short by a brutal conflict that spares no one,” said Sonia Khush, Syrian Response Director of Save the Children.
Russian President Putin traveled to Syria this week, meeting with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and then going to Turkey where he met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The new ceasefire appears to have been struck during this meeting.
Damascus has not commented on the ceasefire and the regime has been adamant that it wants to retake all of Syrian territory, by force of arms if necessary.
On Thursday, in a speech to the United Nations Security Council, Syria’s representative to the UN Bashar al-Jaafari slammed the Council for “hampering” Syria’s anti-terror fight in Idlib.
The UK-based war monitor the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported “cautious calm” across the de-escalation zone in Idlib “in conjunction” with the Russian announcement of the ceasefire. There are periods of shelling and exchange of machine gun fire, reported the Observatory.
