DARAA, Syria — An uneasy calm held sway in a southern
Syrian city Sunday after the army entered a former rebel holdout under a
surrender deal, AFP journalists on a government-organized tour said.
اضافة اعلان
Daraa province and its capital of the same name, the cradle
of Syria's uprising, returned to government control in 2018 under a previous
ceasefire backed by government ally
Russia.
But rebels stayed on in a southern part of the city called
Daraa Al-Balad, and over the summer they clashed with government forces on its
outskirts seeking to retake the area.
A new Moscow-brokered truce has seen dozens of opposition
fighters bused out of the city over the past few weeks and government forces
return to the area since Wednesday.
Inside Daraa Al-Balad on Sunday, AFP correspondents saw
bulldozers clearing away rubble between battle-scarred buildings.
Syrian and Russian flags flew in several places.
The guns had fallen silent but the areas visited were
largely devoid of civilians, and several onlookers on motorbikes refused to
speak to the media.
"Nine checkpoints have been set up on the edges of and
inside Daraa Al-Balad," a military source told AFP.
Two bakeries reopened
Under the deal, fighters who agree to the truce have been
invited to give up their guns and sign up to stay in the city under a so-called
reconciliation process.
"The process is ongoing to settle the status of those
fighters who wish to do so after handing over their weapon," the source
said.
"There is cautious calm and we are waiting for the
reconciliation steps to be completed," the source added, expressing the
hope that everyone would accept the deal.
"The state would prefer not to have to resort to a
military solution."
The United Nations and rights group Amnesty International
have warned of dwindling supplies inside
Daraa Al-Balad in recent weeks, after
government forces tightened the noose around the area.
But a source with the provincial authorities said: "Two
bakeries have started working again in the past few hours and work is under way
to set up several medical treatment posts."
The fighting since July caused more than 38,000 people to
flee the southern half of the city, the UN has said.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based war
monitor, says 23 civilians including six children, 26 members of the
pro-government forces and 20 rebels were killed in the weeks-long escalation
before the truce.
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