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Conflict in Syria

Ceasefire violations in Syria's Idlib leading to new victims

Illegal militant groups are violating the ceasefire regime in Idlib

© Ugur Can/DHA via AP

ALEPPO, /Syria/. May 24. /TASS/. Syrian Idlib is firing shells toward government forces in violation of the ceasefire regime, which results in new civilian victims. Not only adults get wounded and injured, but also children, civilians hospitalized in Aleppo told reporters.

"I was walking down the street and heard whistle and a bang, I don’t remember anything else. I came round already in the hospital. The doctors say that I’ll survive, but I know that I won’t be able to work and provide for my family as I used to," local Sammer Srur said.

Read also

Syrian troops thwart terrorist attacks near Idlib

The doctors are performing a checkup on him. His wife and daughter are next to his bed. "The patient’s legs are broken, we had to amputate his right hand, the surgery was successful. We removed shrapnel, his prognosis is optomostic," an Aleppo hospital surgeon Muhammad Daalala said.

The shelling is heard at night in the district of al-Hamdaniya. When the day comes, fresh blood stains are visible on the sidewalk, the militants are aiming for residential buildings. "In the evening a bomb hit, one man and two women were injured, it is scary. I have two children, I am worried for them more than I am for myself," local Ali Maktabi said.

Heavy artillery is fired from Idlib, a district in the de-escalation zone. Therefore, illegal militant groups are violating the ceasefire regime. The Russian Center for Reconciliation of the Opposing Sides is monitoring the situation alongside with the Turkish colleagues.

In the last 24 hours, the Russian party of the joint Russia-Turkey commission on ceasefire violations has registered eighteen cases of gunfire in the provinces of Latakia and Hama. The Turkish party has detected 12 violations in the Hama province.

De-escalation zones

Four de-escalation zones were set up in Syria in accordance with the May 2017 agreement reached by Russia, Iran and Turkey in Astana, Kazakhstan. In 2018, Damascus took the territory of three of these zones under its control. The fourth zone is located in the Idlib province as well as in parts of the neighboring Latakia, Hama and Aleppo provinces; the Syrian government is still not exercising full control over it, while the Jabhat al-Nusra terrorists captured most of it.

On May 18 at midnight, the Syrian government forces unilaterally declared ceased firing arms in this district. Nevertheless, the militants continue attacking their positions.

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