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Militants in Syria shelled government forces 13 times from Saturday - Russian top brass

Starting from midnight on May 18, Syria’s Armed Forces have unilaterally stopped fire in the Idlib de-escalation zone

MOSCOW, May 19. /TASS/. Militants in Syria have shelled government forces 13 times from Saturday, wounding three Syrian servicemen, the Russian Center for Reconciliation of the Opposing Sides in Syria told reporters.

"Since May 18, 13 cases of ceasefire violations have been registered, including with the use of mortars and multiple artillery rocket systems, which are prohibited for deployment in the demilitarized zone under 2017 Astana agreements and 2018 Sochi agreements," the Russian military said. "As a result of the shellings three Syrian servicemen were wounded."

Starting from midnight on May 18, Syria’s Armed Forces have unilaterally stopped fire in the Idlib de-escalation zone, but the militants continued shelling the government forces’ positions and civilians in the provinces of Hama, Latakia and Aleppo, the statement said.

Four de-escalation zones were set up in Syria in accordance with the May 2017 decision made by Russia, Iran and Turkey, the guarantors of the Syrian ceasefire. In 2018, Damascus gained control over the territory of three of them. The fourth zone, located in the Idlib province and parts of the neighboring Latakia, Hama and Aleppo provinces, is still not under the government’s control. A major part of them is seized by terrorists from the Jabhat al-Nusra group (outlawed in Russia).