Negotiations on Daraa reach dead end

Spokesperson for the Negotiating Committee in Daraa (southern Syria) Adnan Al-Masalma confirmed that negotiations with Russia and the Bashar Al-Assad regime to implement the truce agreement signed on 31 August have reached a deadlock.

Al-Masalma said on Friday that the negotiating committee informed the security committee and the Russian side that the people of the besieged Daraa neighbourhoods: “Cannot accept the conditions of handing over weapons, searching homes and coexisting with the presence of military checkpoints in their neighbourhoods.”

He stated that during the discussions, the negotiating committee asked to secure a safe route for the people of the besieged neighbourhoods to cross to Jordan or Turkey.

According to Al-Masalma, Iran has thwarted the outcome reached by the negotiating committee and Russia in the agreement announced two days ago.

On 1 September, Al-Masalma announced the agreement’s details, which stipulates an immediate ceasefire and the entry and deployment of a Russian military police patrol in Daraa Al-Balad.

Read: Daraa Central Committee announce collapse of talks with Syria regime

The agreement provides for the opening of a centre to regularise the status of wanted persons, handing over their weapons, examining the identities of the locals of Daraa Al-Balad in order to detect the presence of strangers, deploying four security checkpoints, lifting the siege imposed on the city of Daraa and returning the police station members.

According to the same accord, the two sides agreed on introducing services to Daraa Al-Balad, working on releasing the detainees and unveiling the fate of the missing, five days after the implementation of the agreement.

A delegation of the Russian police, accompanied by elements of the Eighth Brigade and officers from Al-Assad’s militia, entered Daraa Al-Balad on the first of this month to consolidate the ceasefire and implement the terms of the agreement signed with the central committees.

The agreement was reached after 71 days of almost daily siege and bombardment in Daraa Al-Balad by Russia, Al-Assad’s militias and Iranian factions, following the eruption of popular demonstrations against the regime and the locals’ refusal to participate in the presidential elections.

Read: Syrian army steps up offensive on rebel redoubt in southwest city