Syria vows to continue war against terrorism following Idlib deal

IDLIB: A senior adviser to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad says the Arab country will continue its war against foreign-backed terrorism following a ceasefire agreement in the northwestern Idlib province.

Assad’s political and media adviser, Bouthaina Shaaban, said on Saturday that Syria fights terrorism on behalf of the whole world and it will continue to do so until it fully liberates Syrian land. She added that terms of the ceasefire deal, agreed between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Russian President Vladimir Putin on March 5, were the outcome of the sacrifices and major gains of the Syrian army. Among notable terms in the ceasefire, she stressed, was the liberation of the strategic M4 and M5 highways. According to the agreement, joint Russian-Turkish patrols will secure a six-kilometer-wide corridor along the M4 highway connecting the two government-held provinces of Latakia and Aleppo.

The ceasefire also consolidates Syrian control over the M5 highway which links the capital Damascus to the major cities of Hama, Homs and Aleppo. The truce has largely held despite heavy clashes between Turkish-backed terrorists and the Syrian army preceding the deal.

On Saturday, Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said there had been no violations of the ceasefire, according to the state-owned Anadolu news agency.

Head of the Russian Defence Ministry’s Coordination Center Rear Admiral Oleg Zhuravlev, however, said that terrorists violated the truce on six counts since it was imposed 00:01 a.m. on Friday.

He said the violations involved terrorists firing on Syrian positions in the Aleppo and Latakia provinces neighboring Idlib. He did not elaborate on any possible casualties. Syria’s SANA news agency reported on Friday that the Syrian army had uncovered American-made TOW missiles and tripod mounts left behind by the terrorists following the city’s liberation earlier this week.

Images released by the news agency also showed other equipment, including damaged military vehicles, left behind by the terrorists. A field commander speaking to SANA said that the army’s engineering units also dismantled explosive devices blocking the M5 highway running next to the city.

SANA reported that civilian vehicles could be seen driving through the recently liberated highway.

The ceasefire comes a few months after the Syrian army launched an anti-terror operation against foreign-sponsored militants in Idlib after terrorists failed to honor an earlier de-escalation agreement brokered by Ankara and Moscow.

According to the so-called Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR), more than 1138 terrorists and 73 Turkish soldiers were killed in clashes against pro-Damascus forces in the last 51 days. The Observatory - which is known to oppose the Syrian government - also said more than 276 cities, towns and villages were liberated by the Syrian army.

The presidents of Russia and Turkey have reached agreement on a ceasefire to begin at midnight Thursday in north-western Syria, where escalating fighting has threatened to put forces from the two countries into direct conflict. The deal struck by the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, and his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, after talks in Moscow on Thursday would also set up a security corridor along a key east-west highway in Idlib province.