MOSCOW: Jets from the US-led coalition are barred from proposed safe zones in Syria set to be created under a deal inked by Russia, Iran and Turkey, Moscow’s envoy said Friday.
“In terms of their actions in the de-escalation zones, then from this moment these zones are closed for their flights,” Alexander Lavrentiev, the Kremlin’s envoy to peace talks in Kazakhstan, was quoted as saying by Interfax news agency.
“Aviation operations, especially by the international coalition forces, are absolutely not envisioned,” he said.
Regime backers Russia and Iran and opposition supporter Turkey on Thursday signed a deal at talks in Kazakhstan to set up four safe zones in the war-torn country. The agreement did not explicitly mention the US-led coalition, which has been targeting Daesh, but Lavrentiev insisted that “flights cease over these territories.”
“We as guarantors will closely monitor all operations,” he said.
Moscow’s envoy said this means coalition air power can now only focus on “Islamic State (Daesh) targets that are located in the area of Raqqa, some populated areas in the region of the Euphrates, Deir Ez Zor and further on to the territory of Iraq.”
The exact boundaries of the proposed safe zones in Syria are yet to be defined but they are meant to focus on opposition-held territory.
Meanwhile, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is encouraged by the agreement, his spokesman said.
“It will be crucial to see this agreement actually improve the lives of Syrians,” UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in a statement.
Guterres “welcomed the commitments to ceasing the use of all weapons, particularly aerial assets” and to quickly deliver medical aid and basic necessities, said the spokesman.
Russia says Syria safe zones closed to US-coalition jets
Russia says Syria safe zones closed to US-coalition jets
First responders enter devastated Aleppo neighborhood after days of deadly fighting
- The US-backed SDF, which have played a key role in combating the Daesh group in large swaths of eastern Syria, are the largest force yet to be absorbed into Syria’s national army
ALEPPO, Syria: First responders on Sunday entered a contested neighborhood in Syria’ s northern city of Aleppo after days of deadly clashes between government forces and Kurdish-led forces. Syrian state media said the military was deployed in large numbers.
The clashes broke out Tuesday in the predominantly Kurdish neighborhoods of Sheikh Maqsoud, Achrafieh and Bani Zaid after the government and the Syrian Democratic Forces, the main Kurdish-led force in the country, failed to make progress on how to merge the SDF into the national army. Security forces captured Achrafieh and Bani Zaid.
The fighting between the two sides was the most intense since the fall of then-President Bashar Assad to insurgents in December 2024. At least 23 people were killed in five days of clashes and more than 140,000 were displaced amid shelling and drone strikes.
The US-backed SDF, which have played a key role in combating the Daesh group in large swaths of eastern Syria, are the largest force yet to be absorbed into Syria’s national army. Some of the factions that make up the army, however, were previously Turkish-backed insurgent groups that have a long history of clashing with Kurdish forces.
The Kurdish fighters have now evacuated from the Sheikh Maqsoud neighborhood to northeastern Syria, which is under the control of the SDF. However, they said in a statement they will continue to fight now that the wounded and civilians have been evacuated, in what they called a “partial ceasefire.”
The neighborhood appeared calm Sunday. The United Nations said it was trying to dispatch more convoys to the neighborhoods with food, fuel, blankets and other urgent supplies.
Government security forces brought journalists to tour the devastated area, showing them the damaged Khalid Al-Fajer Hospital and a military position belonging to the SDF’s security forces that government forces had targeted.
The SDF statement accused the government of targeting the hospital “dozens of times” before patients were evacuated. Damascus accused the Kurdish-led group of using the hospital and other civilian facilities as military positions.
On one street, Syrian Red Crescent first responders spoke to a resident surrounded by charred cars and badly damaged residential buildings.
Some residents told The Associated Press that SDF forces did not allow their cars through checkpoints to leave.
“We lived a night of horror. I still cannot believe that I am right here standing on my own two feet,” said Ahmad Shaikho. “So far the situation has been calm. There hasn’t been any gunfire.”
Syrian Civil Defense first responders have been disarming improvised mines that they say were left by the Kurdish forces as booby traps.
Residents who fled are not being allowed back into the neighborhood until all the mines are cleared. Some were reminded of the displacement during Syria’s long civil war.
“I want to go back to my home, I beg you,” said Hoda Alnasiri.
