MOSCOW, March 9. /TASS/. Certain illegal armed groups operating in Syria get in contact with the Russian center for reconciliation of warring sides in Syria to consider disassociation with the Jabhat al-Nusra terrorist group (outlawed in Russia), Maj Gen Yuri Yevtushenko, the center’s chief, said on Friday.
"Certain representatives of illegal armed groups have intensified attempts to get in touch with the Syrian government forces and the Russian center for reconciliation of warring sides with the aim to discuss their separation from the banned terrorist group Jabhat al-Nusra," he said.
The situation in Eastern Ghouta remains tense, he added.
"For the second consecutive day, a provisional evacuation route has been operating in the direction of Jisrain-Mleha. Required infrastructure has been set up," Yevtushenko said. "Ambulances remain on standby as well as a first-aid station, a field kitchen and vehicles ready to carry civilians to safe areas."
"Efforts have been taken to normalize the situation along the humanitarian corridor leading to the checkpoint near the populated locality of Al-Wafideen," he said.
Back to peaceful life
In recent days, the joint coordination center has registered a lowering number of ceasefire breaches, Yevtushenko said.
"Efforts to reconstruct damaged vital infrastructure and to get back to peaceful life in Syrian provinces have allowed people to come back to their former places of residence," he said. "So, 31 people returned to their homes in the Homs province and 308 more in the Deir ez-Zor province on eastern bank of the Euphrates River."
On Friday, officers of the Russian reconciliation center provided a safe itinerary for the aid convoy of the UN and Syrian Arab Red Crescent in Douma.
"Thirteen trucks delivered 74 tonnes of food and medicines to the town in need," he said.
A 1.9-tonne consignment of food and medicines was delivered to Darvash in the Damascus province. Russian military doctors provided treatment to 66 Syrians, including 27 minors.
The Russian reconciliation center continues to fulfill the tasks assigned to them after the completion of the military campaign in Syria. They regularly travel around the country's liberated areas to assess the humanitarian situation. The main efforts of the Russian military are now focused on assistance to the refugees returning back to their homes and evacuation of civilians from de-escalation zones.
They are also tasked with lending humanitarian assistance to the Syrian population, coordinating work to restore the infrastructure in war-torn regions, assisting in the return of refugees and in the integration of militants who have laid down arms into the peaceful life, as well as monitoring the ceasefire.