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Russian Defense Ministry registers seven truce violations in Syria in 24 hours

The ceasefire was breached three times in Aleppo; and one time in Latakia, Homs, Idlib and Hama

MOSCOW, March 9 /TASS/. The Russian Center for reconciliation of the warring parties in Syria has registered seven ceasefire violations over the past 24 hours.

"The ceasefire regime has been breached 7 times over the past 24 hours (three times in Aleppo; and one time in Latakia, Homs, Idlib and Hama), the reconciliation center said in a report published at the Russian Defense Ministry website.

For example, militants from the Liva Sultan Murad and Firqa 16 armed groups have launched three mortar attacks on the Sheikh - Maksood neighborhood in the city of Aleppo, the report clarified.

Russian and Syrian warplanes have delivered no air strikes on opposition armed units, which have agreed to cease the hostilities and have informed a Russian or a US reconciliation center about their location, the Russian reconciliation center said in its bulletin.

The center reported seven truce violations, most of them in Aleppo province, in Syria a day earlier, on Tuesday (March 8).

Over 40 armed units joined ceasefire in Syria

 A number of armed units that joined the ceasefire in Syria over the past 24 hours has reached 42, a bulletin of the Russian center for reconciliation of opposing sides in Syria said on Wednesday.

"Over the past 24 hours, ceasefire agreements have been signed with the commanders of five detachments operating nearby the village of Muhadja (the Daraa province) and numbering 450 fighters," said the bulletin posted on the Russian Defense Ministry’s website on Wednesday.

"Thus, a total number of illegal armed units, which announced their commitments to undertaking and implementing the conditions needed for a cessation of hostilities, reached 42," it said.

The number of residential localities which heads signed the ceasefire agreements has remained unchanged - 42, the bulletin says.

"Six negotiations were held with religious leaders and representatives of the residential localities and districts in the Damascus, Aleppo and Quneitra provinces," it said.

In the past 24 hours, the center received 44 calls, with 34 out of them being requests to provide humanitarian aid and also reports about cases of shelling.

Militants in Syria abduct head of one of local reconciliation committees

Terrorists in Syria have abducted a former Syrian army colonel who led a reconciliation committee in a rural community, the center for the reconciliation of warring factions in Syria has said.

"It has been confirmed that militants led by Mashur Hassan Kanakri and Ziad al-Hariri have abducted Zaidan Alnserat, the head of the reconciliation committee in a local village was abducted on February 29," the Defense Ministry said in a statement on its website.

According to the center Alnserat had been kept in jail in Busra al-Sham, al-Suwayda Province until March 7.

The ceasefire has been effective in Syria since February 27. It does not apply to the groups Islamic State and Jabhat al-Nusra (both outlawed in Russia), and also to other groups declared as terrorist by the UN Security Council.

The Russian Defense Ministry announced the establishment of the reconciliation center on February 23. It is headquartered at the Khmeimim air base, Latakia province. The center was set up in line with agreements reached by Russia and the United States to facilitate the negotiations between the Syrian government and opposition and to organize humanitarian deliveries.