Russian Airstrikes on Militants Stopped under Ceasefire Agreement

Local Editor

As the Syrian ceasefire agreement went into effect, Russian General Staff head Lt. Gen. Sergei Rudskoi announced that at midnight, Russian Air Forces stopped their airstrikes on militants and armed groups who are in support of the agreement.

"In accordance with the UN resolution in support of the Russian-US agreement on ceasefire, and in order to avoid any potential mistakes during airstrikes, Russian aircraft, including those of the long-range aviation, are not conducting any missions today, on February 27," he added.

Russia and the United States reached an agreement on the ceasefire in Syria on February 22. The ceasefire took effect at midnight on Saturday, Damascus time [22:00 GMT on Friday].

The UN Security Council unanimously adopted the resolution endorsing the Russia-US agreement on the cessation of hostilities in Syria on Friday, shortly before the ceasefire came into force.

In addition, earlier on February 23, the Syrian side announced its readiness to stop hostilities in accordance with the Russian-American agreement. However, the cessation of hostilities does not apply to designated terrorist groups operating in Syria, including "ISIS" and al-Nusra Front, a group affiliated with al-Qaeda.

Meanwhile, the Syrian army and 17 armed units pledged to abide by the ceasefire, in which seventy Russian drones will be monitoring the process.

In parallel, hotlines were created to ensure the quick exchange of information between the Russian ceasefire coordinating center in Hmeimim, Syria and the US one in Amman, Jordan.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team