Syria fighting eases as safe zones plan begins
Sporadic skirmishes, shelling reported as deal for ‘de-escalation zones’ signed by Russia, Iran, Turkey takes effect
BEIRUT: Fighting eased in Syria on Saturday after a deal signed by Russia, Iran and Turkey to create four “deescalation zones” began to take effect.
The multi-phase plan, signed on Thursday in the Kazakh capital Astana, is one of the more ambitious efforts to bring an end to Syria’s sixyear conflict.
It provides for a ceasefire, rapid deliveries of humanitarian aid and the return of refugees after the creation of “de-escalation zones” across stretches of eight Syrian provinces.
Those zones would see a halt to hostilities, including air strikes, and proposes the deployment of “thirdparty” monitoring forces.
It began coming into effect at midnight (2100 GMT on Friday), according to Russia, but cosponsors have until June 4 to finalise the zones’ borders.
The four main battlegrounds covered are the northwestern province of Idlib, parts of central Syria, the south, and the opposition enclave of Eastern Ghouta near Damascus.
Some of those areas had already seen a drop in violence by Saturday.
The skies were quiet over Idlib province, residents said in the afternoon, but they were anxious that the evening would bring renewed bombardment.
Syrian government warplanes could be heard from Eastern Ghouta around midday on Saturday, according to an witnesses in the rebelheld town of Douma.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said there were skirmishes and shelling in several rebel-held areas in the central province of Hama and in Eastern Ghouta.
“Despite these violations, we can still say that hostilities have dropped,” said Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman.
The Britain-based Observatory said it had recorded no civilian casualties yet on Saturday, but that several fighters were killed in regime bombardment of Daraa and Aleppo provinces in the first reported deaths since the deal came into effect.
Several ceasefire deals have been agreed since Syria’s conflict broke out in March 2011 but they have failed to permanently stem the fighting.
The new deal was penned by Turkey, which backs the opposition, as well as Russia and Iran, both supporters of Syrian President Bashar al Assad.
It was reached in Astana during another round of negotiations to shore up a faltering truce deal brokered in December.
The agreement would initially last six months but could be extended by the guarantors.