US-Russian ceasefire holding in southwestern Syria

There have been no air strikes or clashes in southwestern Syria since a US-Russian brokered ceasefire deal took effect on Sunday morning, a war monitoring group and a rebel official said.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitor, said “calm was prevailing” in the area since the truce began at noon Damascus time (9am Irish time). A rebel official in Deraa city also said there had been no significant fighting.

A resident and local opposition activist in Daraa, near the Jordanian border, reported calm in the opening minutes of the truce. “There’s still a lot of anxiety,” said Ahmad al-Masalmeh. “We’ve entered the ceasefire but there are no mechanisms to enforce it. That’s what concerns people.”

There was no immediate comment from the Syrian army.

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The United States, Russia and Jordan reached a ceasefire and “de-escalation agreement” this week with the aim of paving the way for a broader, more robust truce.

The announcement came after a meeting between US president Donald Trump and Russian president Vladimir Putin at the G20 summit of major economies in Germany.

Several ceasefires have crumbled since the onset of the conflict and it was not clear how much the combatants - Syrian government forces and the main rebels in the southwest - were committed to this latest effort.

With the help of Russian air power and Iranian-backed militias, Syrian president Bashar al-Assad’s government has put rebels on the back foot over the last year.

The wide array of mostly Sunni rebels include jihadist factions and other groups supported by Turkey, the United States and Gulf monarchies. Earlier talks between the US and Russia about a “de-escalation zone” in southwest Syria covered Deraa province on the border with Jordan and Quneitra, which borders the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

The multi-sided Syrian conflict, which grew out of popular protests against Assad’s rule in 2011, has killed hundreds of thousands of people and created the world’s worst refugee crisis.

Reuters and PA