Syrian warplanes hit rebels despite cease-fire
Government forces, allies advance against Islamic State near its caliphate ‘capital’ Raqqa Move brings them close to area controlled by US-backed Kurdish militia
BEIRUT (Reuters) – Syrian government warplanes carried out several air strikes in the eastern Ghouta area east of Damascus on Sunday, a day after the Syrian military declared a cessation of hostilities in the area, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
The British-based monitoring group said Saturday had been relatively calm after the cease-fire took effect with isolated incidents of shellfire.
On Sunday, six air strikes hit the towns of Duma and Ain Terma in rebel-held eastern Ghouta, it reported.
There was no immediate comment from the government or army.
Syria’s military declared a “cessation of fighting activities” starting at noon on Saturday in besieged eastern Ghouta, which has long been controlled by the opposition.
One rebel group in eastern Ghouta quickly welcomed the cease-fire.
A separate statement from Cairo-based political opposition movement Al-Ghad, headed by Ahmad Jarba, said the agreement had been reached in Cairo, sponsored by Egypt and Russia and with the involvement of mainstream rebel groups.
There was to be a full ceasefire in eastern Ghouta, no government forces would enter the area and aid would be allowed in, it said.
Numerous attempts at a lasting cease-fire in western Syria, where rebels have lost ground to government forces and their allies over the last year, have often collapsed with both sides trading the blame.
The United States, Russia and Jordan reached a cease-fire and “de-escalation agreement” for southwestern Syria this month, which has reduced violence. That agreement did not include eastern Ghouta.
Meanwhile, Syrian government forces and their allies have recaptured territory from Islamic State in countryside southeast of its stronghold Raqqa after air strikes in the area, a pro-Damascus military media unit and war monitors reported.
The advances towards the provincial boundary between Raqqa and Deir al-Zor took place late on Saturday, the media unit, run by Damascus ally Hezbollah, and the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
The army seized an oil field in the Sabkha area as part of the advance.
It was a rare advance for Damascus’s forces in that area, which is close to territory controlled by the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, a Kurdish-dominated alliance separately fighting Islamic State. It also brings government forces closer to Deir al-Zor province, another Islamic State stronghold.
The Syrian army has active front lines with Islamic State in western Raqqa province and has made recent gains there.
Incidents between the Syrian military and SDF last month raised tension between Washington and Damascus and its ally Moscow.
Separately in the north of Syria, one of the country’s most complicated battlegrounds, Turkish-backed Syrian rebels are fighting US-backed Kurdish forces over control of some areas along the border, in clashes that threaten to distract from the fight against Islamic State.
The Kurdish YPG militia, which forms the largest part of the SDF, controls much of northeastern Syria after capturing vast tracts of land from Islamic State.