MOSCOW, May 8. /TASS/. The regime of cessation of hostilities has been largely observed in most of Syria’s provinces over the past 24 hours. Five violations have been registered (three - in the Aleppo province and two - in the Latakia province), the Russian center for reconciliation of opposing sides in Syria said in a daily bulletin posted on the Defense Ministry’s official website on Saturday.
"Militants of the Jaysh al-Islam group, who claim to be an opposition group, shelled the district of Az-Zahraa in the city of Aleppo three times from mortars. In the Latakia province militants of this group hurled mortars into positions of the Syrian army near the residential localities of Sandran and Akch Baer," the bulletin says.
Russia’s Aerospace Force and Syria’s Air Force have not been delivering strikes on opposition armed units that had announced the cessation of hostilities and reported their location to the Russian or U.S. reconciliation centers.
The bulletin says that in the past 24 hours a provisional reconciliation agreement was reached with representatives of a village in the Homs province. The number of residential localities that joined the reconciliation process has amounted to 94.
"Besides, talks to join the regime of cessation of hostilities have been held with the field commander of an armed detachment in the Damascus province," the bulletin said. "The number of armed groups which announced their commitment to accepting and fulfilling the ceasefire conditions remained unchanged, 52.
Humanitarian deliveries to Syria’s suffering population included 500 kilos of bread baked at the Russian field bakery. The bread was handed to residents in the Homs province. Convoys with humanitarian aid are being formed for population in the Hama and Latakia provinces.
"Repair teams of Syrian builders resumed water supplies to consumers in the village of Beit-Shakukhi in the Latakia province. A new power line has been laid," it said. "Reconstruction of the school is drawing to a close."
In the meantime, "combatants of the Jabhat al-Nusra terrorist group are continuing their military actions near the city of Aleppo," the statement says.
"Over the 24 hours they shelled twice the district of Sheikh Maqsood and Al-Nayrab airport from multiple rocket launchers," the Russian Defense Ministry’s statement says. "From the district of Ashrafia terrorists launched an attempt to mount an offensive to Sheikh Maqsood. Suffering fatalities, they retreated to original positions."
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 declared the establishment of the reconciliation center on February 23. It is headquartered at the Hmeimim 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. Russia’s aviation grouping has been delivering air strikes against the Islamic State terrorist organization in Syria since September 30, 2015 at the request of Syria’s President Bashar Assad. Since 2014, the US-led coalition has also been delivering air strikes against militants in Syria and Iraq.