Russia’s Vladimir Putin says his country will keep hitting “terrorist organizations” in Syria even as the U.S.-Russia-engineered truce goes into effect at midnight.
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The meeting at the UN’s European headquarters in Geneva was presided over by UN envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura and representatives of the United States and Russian Federation, who co-chair the group of countries, UN footage showed.
A previous agreement was due to begin last Friday but appeared not to have been observed by some fighting groups and, on Sunday, at least 140 people were killed in auto bombings in Homs and Damascus.
An unusual quiet descended on major cities in Syria, said Rami Abdulrahman, director of the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, adding there were brief exceptions including some unexplained explosions reported in the north.
“We know that the Observatory repeatedly gave information which was not verified and not supported with any kind of evidence”, he emphasized.
A cessation of hostilities in Syria came into effect at the agreed time of midnight on Saturday (2200 GMT Friday), under a U.S.-Russian plan whichwarring sides in the five-year conflict have said would to commit to.
Earlier in the day, Russia’s foreign minister said it expects the U.N. Security Council to back a resolution endorsing the planned “cessation of hostilities” in Syria, but nobody can give a 100 percent guarantee that the ceasefire plan will be implemented.
Syria’s top opposition grouping – the Riyadh-based High Negotiations Committee (HNC) – said Friday that 97 opposition factions had signed on “to respect a temporary truce” but reiterated that it was only agreeing to an initial period of two weeks.
Al-Nusra Front’s leader, Abu Mohamad al-Golani, said in an audio message on Orient News TV on Friday that insurgents should “strengthen your resolve and intensify your strikes, and do not let their planes and great numbers (of troops) scare you”. The draft, obtained by The Associated Press, also urges the United Nations secretary-general to resume Syria peace talks “as soon as possible”. The elusive cease-fire deal was reached only after a monthslong Russian air campaign that the US says strengthened Assad’s hand and allowed his forces to retake territory, altering the balance of power in the Syrian civil war.
Peskov denied the report and said Russian Federation only targeted Daesh Takfiri militants, al-Nusra Front and other Takfiri groups that were chosen as legitimate targets by the UN Security Council.
“The secret will be how all this is verified – and we do have means both on the ground through our own contacts and certainly through these different operation centers”, he said. However, the deal will only apply to moderate rebels.
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Washington has supported the YPG in the fight against Islamic State in Syria.
