MOSCOW, January 16. /TASS/. Sixty ceasefire violations were reported during the day in Syria’s governorates of Latakia, Aleppo, Idlib and Hama, Major General Yury Borenkov, chief of the Russian Center for reconciliation of the conflicting sides in Syria, told reporters on Thursday.

"Sixty episodes of shelling by armed groups have been reported over the past 24 hours," Borenkov said.

He added that one of the three checkpoints created to allow civilians to leave the Idlib de-escalation zone, came under mortar fire on January 14, putting at risk the lives of civilians and Russian police officers. In another development, this time on January 15, up to 150 militants riding 20 light trucks and armed with heavy machine guns made another attempt of an offensive on the positions of the Syrian army towards the settlements of Malka and al-Tah in Idlib governorate.

During the day, officers of the Russian reconciliation center conducted two humanitarian operations and distributed a total of 3.15 tonnes of food sets among civilians in the settlement of Jaba (Quneitra governorate) and Abukra (Al-Hasakah governorate), Borenkov said. Overall, 2,333 humanitarian operations have been carried out since the start of the settlement process.

The ceasefire in the Idlib de-escalation zone in northern Syria entered into force on January 12. The Syrian government forces however stopped fighting at 2pm local time on January 9.

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 aiding the refugees who are returning back to their homes and evacuating civilians from the war-torn country’s de-escalation zones.