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Syrian army fully ready for ceasefire — ambassador

According to the diplomat, "only one order is required for Damascus to stop military actions"

MOSCOW, February 26. /TASS/. The Syrian army is fully ready for ceasefire and Damascus is ready to start talks with the opposition on March 7, Syria’s Ambassador to Russia Riyad Haddad said Friday.

"The Syrian army is ready for ceasefire, only one order is required for Damascus to stop military actions," Haddad said at the conference "Middle East: From Violence to Security" at the Valdai discussion club. "We are coordinating our actions with representatives of the Russian Federation," he added noting that "the only issue here is whether opposition representatives will comply" with the ceasefire.

Answering a question on who will monitor the observation of ceasefire regime in Syria, Haddad said: "Russia and United States are two countries supervising this process."

"The UN special envoy will name the date but the Syrian government is ready for this," Haddad said referring to the intra-Syrian talks.

The intra-Syrian negotiations that began in Geneva in early February were suspended over differences of the sides. The talks were expected to resume on February 25, but UN Special Envoy on Syria Staffan de Mistura warned that this was not realistic.

Russia and the United States have submitted to the UN Security Council a draft resolution in support of the Syrian ceasefire regime that is to take effect at 00:00 on February 27. The resolution commits to paper the statements of the Syrian government army and the opposition groups on their commitment to this agreement.

The draft resolution that is expected to be approved on Friday afternoon also calls on all parties in the conflict to grant access to aid workers to ease the country's worsening humanitarian crisis and reiterates the council's support for the UN-brokered peace talks between the government and opposition.