Russia proclaims de-escalation zone, but pro-Assad bombing continues in East Ghouta area
LATEST
Russia claims that it has deployed military police on the frontline in the East Ghouta area near Syria’s capital Damascus, implementing a “de-escalation” zone it said it had agreed with an opposition group.
The Russian Defense Ministry said on Monday that its personnel had set up two checkpoints and four observation posts.
On Sunday, Russia declared that it had reached an agreement in Cairo with the Syrian “opposition” for the zone. An opposition outlet said the deal was with a faction led by Ahmed al-Jarba, a former President of the Syrian National Coalition.
The opposition has held East Ghouta since 2012, withstanding sieges and bombardments that included the Assad regime’s use of chemical weapons, such as a sarin attack in August 2013 that killed more than 1,400 people.
Since spring 2016, pro-Assad forces have taken much of the area, although they have been stalled in heavy fighting in recent months as they tried to take remaining opposition territory in northeast Damascus and in suburbs such as Ein Tarma. The opposition also still holds the town of Douma, the center of the leading faction Jaish al-Islam.
On Sunday, the Assad regime’s military announced a ceasefire to accompany the Russian announcement.
The Defense Ministry’s spokesman, General Sergey Rudskoy, also declared the deployment of military police in southwest Syria near the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, with two checkpoints and 10 observation posts.
Russia and the US, in their first agreement in Syria, annouced a de-escalation zone on July 9.
“Thanks to measures taken by the Russian Federation, we have managed to stop military action in two of Syria’s most important areas,” the Defence Ministry said. It asserted that talks on creating a new de-escalation zone in opposition-held Idlib Province.
The opposition offered no confirmation of the Russian claims.
Pro-Assad Airstrikes on Damascus Suburbs
Even as Russia was declaring its de-escalation zone, activists were reporting pro-Assad airstrikes on Erbin, northeast of Damascus.
Reports said eight people, including several children, were killed and more than 40 wounded.
Graphic video and photographs showed young victims of the attack.
Activists also said Ein Tarma — the scene of intense fighting and bombardment in recent weeks amid failed regime efforts to take the town — Zamalka, and Douma were hit, wounding three people.
Trump Defends US Termination of Support for Rebels
Donald Trump has defended the US cut-off of assistance to Syria’s rebels fighting the Assad regime.
In a curious tweet amid his social media campaign against The Washington Post, Trump declared:
The Amazon Washington Post fabricated the facts on my ending massive, dangerous, and wasteful payments to Syrian rebels fighting Assad…..
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 25, 2017
White House officials confirmed last week that the Administration is ending the CIA support, launched in 2012 but limited over the past two years, for the Free Syrian Army except for operations in eastern Syria directed against the Islamic Staet. Almost all US aid is now for the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces in their campaign to push the Islamic State out of the north of the country.
Trump did not explain his objection to the “Fake News Washington Post” summary, other than his animosity to the newspaper, but Administration officials have denied that the termination was part of a deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
