File photo
The Russian military plans to evacuate up to 1,000 people from the south-western de-escalation zone in Syria via a humanitarian corridor near city of Daraa, Interfax news agency reported on Monday, citing Russia's Centre for Reconciliation in Syria.
People will be evacuated to Syria's northern Idlib province, the centre said, Interfax reported.
The number of villages and towns that have joined the truce in south-western Syria has increased to 90, Russia's RIA state news agency reported on Monday, citing the Centre for Reconciliation in Syria.
180,000 children have been forced to flee their homes with little means of protection, shelter or assistance, UNICEF said Friday.In a statement, the agency said it had received “horrific reports” from southern Syria, including the death of an entire family in the city of Daraa.According to UNICEF, efforts to reach a peaceful solution to the ongoing fighting there appear to have failed.“Humanitarian assistance and protection are neither a privilege nor a luxury; they are a fundamental right of every Syrian boy and girl,” Geert Cappelaere, UNICEF’s regional director for the MENA region, said in the statement.He went on to urge the international community to step up its efforts to provide humanitarian assistance to those suffering most from the crisis.“If we collectively fail in this duty, children will continue paying the heaviest price of a war not of their making,” he said.Syria has only just begun to emerge from a devastating conflict that began in 2011, when the Assad regime cracked down on demonstrators with unexpected ferocity.
180,000 children displaced in southern Syria: UNICEF
A Syrian opposition spokesman said a Russian-mediated ceasefire agreement in eastern parts of Daraa province includes a withdrawal of government militias from several towns in the south.Ibrahim Jabawi, the spokesman, said local forces overseen by Russia would take charge of the area.Jabawi earlier said the opposition had agreed on a phased handover of their weapons and the deployment of Russian military police in the area near the Jordanian border as part of the deal.Jordan beefs up border defences with Syrian army at frontierOpposition agrees to lay down heavy weapons in S. SyriaSyria’s armed opposition has agreed with Russia to surrender its heavy weapons in the southern part of the country, an opposition spokesman said Friday.Hussein Abu Shaimaa told Anadolu Agency that the deal also calls for the withdrawal of Bashar al-Assad regime forces from some of the towns and villages they recently captured.The agreement further calls for Russian military police to gradually replace regime forces following the withdrawal of the latter from areas near the Jordanian border.Under the terms of the arrangement, anyone wishing to leave the area once the deal takes effect will be granted safe exit.Turkey, US agree on clearing Syrian regions of PKKNumber of Syrians fleeing Daraa exceeds 350,000
Syrian opposition says pro-Assad forces to leave towns in deal brokered by Russia