Syrian regime forces violated a ceasefire on Sunday after launching a ground operation against opposition factions near Damascus, despite a UN Security Council resolution demanding a 30-day ceasefire across Syria to allow for aid deliveries and medical evacuations.
Meanwhile, airstrikes on eastern Ghouta, a rebel bastion near the capital and which has been under regime siege since 2013, were limited on Sunday.
As the truce was violated in the Damascus suburb, the Kremlin said Russian President Vladimir Putin and French and German counterparts Emmanuel Macron and Angela Merkel discussed in a phone conversation the implementation of the ceasefire.
French sources doubted in remarks to Asharq Al-Awsat that the Syrian regime would respect the truce in Ghouta.
Macron is dispatching his Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian to Moscow to discuss with Russian officials the implementation of the ceasefire in Syria.
On Sunday, Iranian General Mohammad Baqeri said Tehran and Damascus would respect the UN resolution, but stressed the truce did not cover parts of the Damascus suburbs “held by the terrorists,” the Tasnim news agency said.
An opposition civilian source told Asharq Al-Awsat that an agreement was earlier reached with regime forces to allow for the withdrawal of al-Nusra Front fighters towards Idlib. However, the source said that Damascus did not respect the deal.
“The Syrian regime wants those extremist fighters to stay in Ghouta to use them later on as a pretext for attacking the area,” the source added.
Separately, Ankara started legal proceedings to extradite Saleh Muslim, former leader of the outlawed Syrian Democratic Union Party (PYD), to Turkey following his arrest in Prague on Saturday based on a Turkish Interpol "red notice.”
Muslim was in the Czech capital to attend a press conference.
The Turkish Justice Ministry confirmed that it has begun the extradition proceedings after Turkey’s ambassador to Prague handed the demand to the Czech Foreign Ministry.
