A significant drop in the death toll … only two female martyrs during one month of the southern Syria truce comparing to 85 civilian fatalities in the previous month
The southern Syria truce ended its first month as it was first implemented by virtue of an agreement brokered by Russia, US and Jordan on the 9th of July 2017. The agreement provided for halting all hostilities and military operations in the Provinces of Al-Suwaida, Daraa and Al-Quneitra. The truce caused a significant drop in the death toll in the three provinces, especially among civilians who were killed by warplanes, helicopters, bombardments and shelling by the regime forces on Daraa, Al-Quneitra and Al-Suwaida Provinces. The truce was interrupted by violations in the form of artillery and mortar shells, opening fire with heavy machine-guns and clashes between the regime forces and their allied militiamen, of Syrian and non-Syrian nationalities, on one hand and the rebel and Islamic factions on the other.
The SOHR documented during the period extending from the 9th of July 2017 till the 9th of August 2017 the death of two female citizens as a result of dropping shells by the factions on areas in Daraa city and Azra’ area in the northern countryside of Daraa. On the other hand, the SOHR documented the death of 84 civilians, including 24 children and 27 women, as a result of shelling by the regime forces and airstrikes by warplanes and helicopters on areas in Al-Suwaida, Daraa and Al-Quneitra Provinces in addition to the shells that fell on the regime-controlled areas in these three Provinces during the month preceded the truce.
Reliable sources had confirmed to the SOHR that the agreement provides for the deployment of Russian military police forces to the cease-fire zones in the three provinces included in the agreement to monitor the ceasefire and the truce implementation. Meanwhile, the factions operating in Al-Suwaidaa desert, which intersects with the southeastern part of Rif Dimashq, announced that they have not been informed by any regional or international entity about the ceasefire in southern Syria. The SOHR also obtained information from reliable sources to the effect that the agreement provides for the withdrawal of the regime forces and their allied militiamen and the rebel and Islamic factions from contact lines in all areas; the deployment of the regime’s internal security forces in these lines whereas the rebel and Islamic factions participating in the agreement will be assigned the task of protecting all public and private establishments. In addition, it also stipulates the departure of all those unwilling to participate in the agreement, the full withdrawal of the regime’s allied militiamen – of non-Syrian nationalities, preparation of the infrastructure necessary for the return of refugees from Jordan successively, holding municipal elections and granting municipalities broad powers, and finally the delivery of humanitarian aid to the areas that abide by the ceasefire. The SOHR had also published on the 17th of June 2017 that a Russian-American-Jordanian truce was put into effect in Daraa Province and was extended till the 20th of June but came to an end as a result of the renewed aerial and artillery shelling by the regime forces and their allied militiamen, helicopters and warplanes.