Syrian regime declares conditional cease-fire in Idlib

The United Nations Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, has announced the formation of a commission of inquiry into the destruction of civilian installations supported by the organization, SANA quoted a military source in the regime's forces as saying. International.

The agency said the military source said that the agreement was made on the condition of the implementation of the Sochi agreement, which requires the retreat of the Syrian opposition armed fighters 20 kilometers deep in the line of reducing the escalation in Idlib, in addition to the withdrawal of heavy and medium weapons.

The Syrian armed opposition has not formally declared its acceptance of the declared ceasefire.

Al-Jazeera correspondent in Idlib Adham Abu al-Hussam said that minutes before the cease-fire came into effect at midnight, the regime's planes continued to bombard the southern areas of Idlib, including Khan Sheikun, Altmata and other towns.

Field situation
The correspondent added that after the entry into force of the truce, the regime did not carry out any raids by the Observatory of the Syrian opposition, but there were intermittent clashes in the outskirts of the eastern Idlib countryside near the city of Abu al-Thahr.

The correspondent pointed out that the Syrian opposition complied with the terms of the truce on 10 October 2018 according to the Sochi agreement to establish a demilitarized zone, but the opposition said it would return heavy and medium weapons into the region in case the regime launched an attack on opposition areas in Idlib.

The province of Idlib and parts of Hama province is the last stronghold of the armed opposition, after losing in recent years large areas in northern and central and southern Syria for the forces of the regime.

Talks of Astana
Russia's special envoy to Syria, Alexander Lavrentev, welcomed on Thursday the Syrian regime's announcement of a temporary ceasefire in Idlib. Russian President Nursultan Nazarbayev made the remarks at a news conference in the Kazakh capital on the conclusion of the preliminary meetings of the "Astana 13" talks on Syria.

He added that the discussions in the preliminary meetings included the situation in the area of ​​reducing the escalation in Idlib and north-eastern Syria, confidence-building measures between the conflicting parties, the formation of the constitutional committee, the return of refugees and the humanitarian situation and post-war reconstruction issues.

Two delegations from the United Nations and Jordan, as well as Lebanon and Iraq, who are participating for the first time, as well as the delegations of the three Guarantor States, Russia, Turkey, Iran and the delegations of the regime and the opposition, will participate as observers.

A source close to the negotiations said that the guarantors agreed to hold a summit on September 11 to form the Syrian Constitutional Commission, adding that the talks under way have resulted in understandings on candidates for the Constitutional Committee.

Commission of Inquiry
On the other hand, the UN Secretary-General decided to form an internal commission of inquiry to consider the series of incidents that occurred in north-west Syria since the signing of the agreement to reduce tension in Idlib between Russia and Turkey last September.

Guterich said that the Commission would investigate and destroy the facilities and facilities supported by the United Nations and provided its coordinates to the parties to the conflict to avoid a clash in Syria and urged all parties concerned to cooperate with the Committee once it was established.

On the other hand, the Deputy Russian delegate to the United Nations that he regrets the decision Guterich formation of the Commission of Inquiry, and believed that "made a mistake and subjected to pressure."