Syria: new truce in Deraa after heavy fighting between army and rebels
A crater in a mosque in Daraa after a bombardment by government forces on September 5.
AFP - SAM HARIRI
Text by: RFI Follow
2 min
A new truce which expires Monday at 7 a.m. GMT has been reached in the city of Daraa, after heavy fighting on Sunday between the Syrian government army and the rebels.
A previous ceasefire had collapsed after the failure of an agreement to end the clashes that have been going on since the end of July in this town in southern Syria, the cradle of the harvest in 2011.
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With our correspondent in Beirut,
Paul Khalifeh
The ceasefire concluded at the end of the day in Daraa on Sunday looks more like an ultimatum than a truce.
Concluded under the aegis of Russia, it comes with conditions imposed on the rebels on pain of a resumption of large-scale military operations as of Monday morning, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
The agreement reached through notables from Daraa requires the total disarmament of the insurgents, the installation of military roadblocks of the Syrian army in the rebel areas and a vast house-to-house search.
A part of the rebels refuses the application of certain points, in particular the evacuation towards the north of Syria of the fighters considered dangerous by Damascus.
Before the entry into force of the ceasefire, Sunday was marked by clashes with heavy and light weapons.
After violently pounding the rebel-controlled neighborhood in the city of Daraa, the Syrian army launched an assault in an attempt to advance on the ground.
The insurgents put up strong resistance.
The rebel neighborhood of Deraa al-Balad has a population of over 50,000.
It has been completely surrounded by the Syrian army and has been blockaded for nearly 70 days.
Food and supplies are transported there in small quantities.
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