Syrian army declares ceasefire in Daraa

The Syrian army said it would suspend combat operations in the southern city of Daraa for 48 hours from Saturday, as mediators announced two separate attempts to convene new peace talks next month.

The Syrian army general command said a ceasefire at noon (0900 GMT) was being implemented to support “reconciliation efforts”, according to a statement carried by state news agency SANA.

The announcement came on the same day as the United Nations said it wanted to start a fresh round of peace talks between Syrian factions on July 10 in Geneva, and Moscow said it hoped to hold talks in Kazakhstan’s capital Astana on July 4-5.

A war monitor said the level of violence in Daraa had fallen seven hours after Saturday’s ceasefire was due to take effect, but it and rebels said there was some bombardment for the first couple of hours.

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A rebel commander in Daraa told Reuters hostilities had not stopped three hours after the ceasefire was due to begin.

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“We have not heard of any such talk and the regime is still attacking us with the same intensity,” the commander said at 3:30 p.m. (1230 GMT).

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor said there was a “cautious calm” by 7 p.m.

“There are breaches and we are distrustful of the regime’s intentions in abiding by the ceasefire,” Major Issam al Rayes, spokesman for the Southern Front grouping of the Free Syrian Army rebels, told Reuters. He added:

The regime’s forces have stopped their military operations after big losses in equipment and men since the start of their campaign over a month ago … after the failure of repeated attempts to advance

Since a resumption of peace negotiations last year, there have been multiple rounds brokered by the United Nations in Geneva between representatives of Syrian rebels and the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, resulting in scant progress.

In more than six years, the Syrian conflict has killed hundreds of thousands of people and driven more than 11 million from their homes.