Militants halt fighting in Damascus district: Reports
Iran Press TV
Mon Jan 6, 2014 12:19AM GMT
Foreign-sponsored militants in the northern Damascus district of Barzeh have agreed to halt fighting against the Syrian government after nearly a year of clashes, reports say.
According to a statement posted by the foreign-backed opposition on Sunday, after intense negotiations in recent days between the government and the so-called "Free Syrian Army through mediators from the neighbourhood, the following agreement has been reached: ceasefire between the two sides.'
The two sides also agreed on the withdrawal of the army "from all of Barzeh, and the cleaning of the streets (of abandoned corpses), in preparation for the road to be opened' by the militants, the statement said.
Under the terms of the truce, Syrians who had fled the district will be able to return within two weeks, and that 'services will be restored.'
Much of Barzeh has been destroyed in the fighting that erupted in March last year.
Syria's news agency SANA had reported that '200 members of the so-called Free Syrian Army and the al-Nusra Front have handed themselves in' to the army in Barzeh.
The Syrian army has recently conducted successful clean-up operations across the country, inflicting heavy losses on the militants.
Syria has been gripped by deadly unrest since March 2011. According to reports, the Western powers and their regional allies -- especially Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey -- are supporting the militants operating inside Syria.
According to the United Nations, more than 100,000 people have been killed and a total of 7.8 million of others displaced due to the violence.
GJH/HN/AS
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