Ceasefire takes effect in SW Syria

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Updated: 9:15 p.m. BJT

A ceasefire in southwestern Syria was holding hours after it took effect, a monitoring group and rebel officials said on Sunday.

The UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said there have been no air strikes or clashes and "calm was prevailing" in the area since the ceasefire started.

While Reuters news agency reported that a rebel official in Deraa city also said there had been no significant fighting.

VCG Photo

Syrian government previously has not commented over the US-Russian brokered ceasefire, which left speculations on whether Syrian army would commit to the agreement, however a Syrian official said on Sunday that silence from the Syria government over the ceasefire deal was a "sign of satisfaction."

The US, Russia and Jordan have reached a ceasefire deal, after a meeting between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, the first between the two leaders, at the G20 Summit of major economies in the German city of Hamburg on Friday.

The truce was enforced by noon local time (0900 GMT) on Sunday, in the provinces of Deraa, Suweida and Quneitra in the southwest, along the Jordanian border.

The ceasefire deal and “de-escalation agreement” mark a new level of cooperation between Moscow and Washington. Syria's neighbor, Jordan is also involved in the deal.

The Syrian government had already carried out a unilateral halt to combat operations in the three provinces since last week, and the support from the US and Jordan would be a good sign for the deal to be successfully enforced, reported CGTN’s Alaa Ebrahim in Damascus.

Efforts have been made on peacemaking in Syria’s civil war as a new round of Russian-sponsored Syria peace talks kicked off in Kazakhstan's capital Astana on Tuesday, where delegations of Syria, Iran and Russia exchanged views on how to implement the framework agreement reached in May, which proposed setting up four de-escalation zones in Syria to suspend fighting between rebels and government forces.

The ceasefire deal may be a boost for the latest UN-sponsored peace talks in Geneva that will begin on Monday.

It's the seventh round of Geneva talks aimed at finding a political solution to the conflict in Syria, which entered its seventh year in March.

UN welcomes Syria ceasefire deal