Baladi News – (Mervat Mohammad)
Despite the entry of the cease-fire agreement into force on the night of Sunday, July 9, the relative calm in the south of Syria has witnessed some breaches in the areas covered by the agreement.
The agreement, which was announced on the sidelines of the G20 summit in the German city of Hamburg after an understanding between the Americans and the Russians, called for a cessation of combat operations in southern Syria and the deployment of monitoring forces in the ceasefire zones in the provinces of Daraa, Swaida and Quneitra, which have always witnessed disagreements escalated to kidnappings and counter-kidnappings between the Sunnite majority in Daraa and the Druze majority in Swaida, a phenomenon that has always threatened the civil peace in the two provinces. Assad's regime has succeeded in pushing the two neighbors into the fighting, according to its strategy to exhaust the Syrian provinces, and exploit hostilities between them in favor of its interests on the ground.
The cease-fire agreement reached between Russia and the United States on the sidelines of the G20 summit has not yet been clearly defined. This has been postponed to meetings of Russian, American and Jordanian experts, which are believed to be taking place in Jordan.
Syrian journalist Iyad al-Jaafari says, "Initially, this agreement may turn into a permanent truce in the region that includes the provinces of Suwaida, Daraa and Quneitra, and if truly implemented, it will stabilize the status quo in those provinces today.
"The Suwaida will remain under the control of the regime, while large parts of Daraa and Quneitra will remain under the control of the opposition. The agreement provides, in principle, for the entry of aid into the areas in need, i.e. those controlled by the opposition," the speaker clarified. "Consequently, there is no reason to stir up the sensitivity between suwaida and Daraa, because the situation will remain as it is today in terms of the distribution of influence and the controlling forces with a permanent cease-fire if implemented successfully, which is doubtful."
Syrian writer and journalist Rami Zein al-Din believes that differentiates this truce is that it will not be executed as decisions but as orders given to those on the ground. The regime forces and the affiliated militias will abide by the Russian orders, and for their part, the opposition factions will adhere to the instructions coming from Washington.
Zein al-Din notes that "despite some of the accidental sensitivities that have affected the relationship of the mountain and the plain because of the different positions towards the regime, specifically after the conflict turned into an armed one, the nature of the historically balanced and friendly relationship between the two parties will hold back to those aspiring to cause sedition and bloodshed. It is well- known that these parties are led by the regime and those groups that do not believe in coexistence.