SYDNEY, Aug 4, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – The United States Sunday welcomed a
ceasefire in Syria’s northwestern Idlib region after months of deadly
government bombardments but insisted attacks against civilians must stop.
Air strikes on Idlib province halted on Friday after the Syrian regime
agreed to a truce on the condition that rebel backer Turkey implements a
buffer zone in the area.
Most of the region and parts of Hama, Aleppo, and Latakia — which
currently hosts some three million people — are controlled by Hayat Tahrir
al-Sham, a jihadist group led by Syria’s former Al-Qaeda affiliate.
The area is supposed to be protected from a massive government offensive
under a September Turkish-Russian deal, but it has come under increasing fire
by Damascus and its backer Moscow since the end of April.
The government of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad has accused Turkey of
dragging its feet in implementing the deal, which provided for a buffer zone
of up to 20 kilometres (12 miles) between the two sides, free of heavy and
medium-sized weaponry.
Washington welcomed the conditional ceasefire, but “attacks against
civilians and civilian infrastructure must stop”, US State Department
spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus said in a statement.
“The United States believes there can be no military solution to the Syrian
conflict, and only a political solution can ensure a stable and secure future
for all Syrians,” she said.
The US also reiterated its support for a United Nations-led peace effort,
with Ortagus calling it “the only viable path to a political solution”.
Since late April, 790 civilians have been killed in regime and Russian
attacks, the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor says.
Fighting over the same period has claimed the lives of nearly 2,000
combatants, including 900 regime loyalists, according to the monitor. More
than 400,000 people have been displaced and dozens of hospitals and schools
damaged since April, according to the UN. The Syrian conflict has killed more
than 370,000 people and driven millions from their homes since it started
with the brutal repression of anti-government protests in 2011.