In Syrian Aleppo, militants have killed 28 civilians over the past few days, another 56 have been injured. This was reported by the Russian Center for the Reconciliation of the warring parties and the control of the movement of refugees (CPVS).
“In the city of Aleppo, 28 civilians became victims of shelling by militants from January 14, 2020, and 56 people were injured,” the agency’s briefing on January 17 said.
In addition, on the 17th, fighters using UAVs attacked Syrian government forces in Aleppo. As a result of this attack, two servicemen were killed and four more were injured.
“In total, in the course of clashes with militants of illegal armed groups over the past 24 hours, 12 soldiers of the Syrian Arab Republic were killed and wounded,” the center emphasized.
In particular, one of the battles with the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham militants occurred on January 16. In the Idlib de-escalation zone, where a ceasefire operates, the terrorists tried to break through the positions of government forces. The SAR army held its position, while the militants suffered significant losses.
“The units of the armed forces of the Syrian Arab Republic held their positions. When repulsing attacks, about 50 militants were destroyed, seven pickups with heavy machine guns mounted on them and one jihad mobile, the briefing said.
Due to the aggravation of the situation in the Idlib de-escalation zone, from January 17, civilians did not leave this region. At the same time, from January 13, almost 1,500 people and 63 pieces of equipment came out.
Russia in the Arab Republic holds humanitarian action. So, on January 17, the central air traffic police reported that in the village of Tel-Ghazal, almost 2 tons of food packages were distributed to needy residents per day. And in the settlements of Kobani and Kamishliya, doctors of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation provided assistance to 227 citizens.
The Russian military police, according to the agreement between the Russian Federation and Turkey, conduct patrols. From the air, Russian army aviation patrols. As noted in the Central Military Command Center, the Russian military did not encounter any incidents.
- © Mikhail Voskresensky / RIA News
“Important success of the Astana format”
Note that the settlement of the conflict in Syria has shifted to the political plane. In Geneva, at the end of 2019, the Constitutional Committee began to work, consisting of representatives of the legal government, the opposition and representatives of civil society.
The committee was formed thanks to the work of the Astana format - Russia, Turkey and Iran. These countries contributed to the implementation of the Congress of the Syrian national dialogue, which took place in Sochi.
The materials for the press conference on the results of 2019 of the Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov say that in the course of the work, the committee members encountered certain difficulties, but they are natural for starting the negotiation process.
“An important success of the Astana format was the formation and launch of the Constitutional Committee in Geneva last October in accordance with the decisions of the Congress of the Syrian National Dialogue in Sochi. Thanks to this, for the first time during the crisis years, the Syrians got the opportunity to conduct a direct dialogue about the future of their country without outside interference, ”the press conference said.
However, in Idlib there remains a large hotbed of escalation - significant territories are still under the control of militants. A ceasefire regime is periodically introduced in the region - the last of them was introduced on January 9. However, illegal armed groups continue to violate it.
At the same time, Damascus facilitates the exit of civilians from these territories to government-controlled ones. Points of exits from the de-escalation zone are equipped with points of medical assistance, the issuance of hot meals and drinking water, and basic necessities.
“The Habit village was liberated from terrorists four months ago. Everything necessary for the return of residents has been provided here, houses have been restored, but the process of restoring social infrastructure is still ongoing, schools, bakeries and electricity are needed. We expect that 50 thousand people will return through this checkpoint to peaceful life, ”said the acting Governor Idlib Fadiz Adun.
* “Hayat Tahrir al-Sham” (“Jabhat Fath al-Sham”, “Front al-Nusra”, “Jabhat al-Nusra”) - the organization was recognized as terrorist by the decision of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation dated December 29, 2014.