The provinces of Daraa and Quneitra are witnessing complete calm following the start of the ceasefire agreed supported by Russia and the United States in southern Syria on Sunday. There has been no official breach of the ceasefire so far.
“I think this is the first indication that the United States and Russia can work together in Syria,” US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said on Saturday. “As a result, we have had very long discussions with regard to other areas of Syria where we can continue to work together to reduce the escalation.”
From his side, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the agreement includes “securing access of humanitarian aids, establishing contacts between the opposition in the area and a monitoring center being established in the Jordanian capital”. This means that the Russian and US sides have already agreed on the technical side of the ceasefire, and a mechanism to monitor it.
The Syrian Arab Army (SAA) used the last hours before the ceasefire yesterday and launched a quick attack enabled it to control Al-Mukhtar strategic palace east of the village of Al-Samadaniya al-Sharkia in Quneitra countryside.
#Syria The final battles of al-#Quneitra: #SAA #NDF Capturing some strategic new points which are drawing a positive results to the battles pic.twitter.com/7fCOaTPvt2
— Ivan Sidorenko (@IvanSidorenko1) 8 July 2017
Opposition sources confirmed that they withdrew from the position, and claimed that they were able to destroy an SAA tank and killed a soldier before the withdrawal. However, the attack ended before the ceasefire officially began.
