Temporary Truce Announced in Daraa Ahead of Permanent Settlement

 A Russian patrol in Daraa, southern Syria, on Wednesday. (Photo: Ahrar Houran Gathering)
A Russian patrol in Daraa, southern Syria, on Wednesday. (Photo: Ahrar Houran Gathering)
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Temporary Truce Announced in Daraa Ahead of Permanent Settlement

 A Russian patrol in Daraa, southern Syria, on Wednesday. (Photo: Ahrar Houran Gathering)
A Russian patrol in Daraa, southern Syria, on Wednesday. (Photo: Ahrar Houran Gathering)

Sources in the Central Daraa Committees denied the entry and deployment of Syrian government forces in the city’s neighborhoods, while a temporary truce was announced for three days, which would include the displacement of opponents to the north of the country.

The agreement reached on Tuesday night was put into effect, and stipulates the entry of forces belonging to the Russian Military Police, accompanied by the Russian-backed Eighth Brigade on Wednesday, with the aim of consolidating the ceasefire by establishing three temporary military points south of Daraa al-Balad.

The agreement also included “making new settlements for 34 wanted persons and handing over their weapons in Daraa al-Balad, the dam road and the camps, and the exit of those who refuse a settlement to northern Syria.”

Meanwhile, a source in the southern front of the Free Syrian Army questioned the commitment of the Syrian government forces to the terms of the Daraa city agreement. The source told German news agency, DPA: “Government forces are fabricating arguments and pretexts to break any agreement.”

Sources from the negotiating committees told Asharq Al-Awsat that an agreement was reached with the Russian side and the security committee of the Syrian regime, in coordination with the Fifth Division, for an immediate ceasefire, the entry of the Russian military police into Daraa al-Balad and the raising of the Russian and Syrian flags over government institutions.

The agreement also included, according to the same sources, making settlements for wanted civilians and military personnel fleeing from compulsory service, handing over a number of weapons, and displacing those who do not wish to abide by the truce to northern Syria under a Russian guarantee.

For its part, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reported the start of the entry of Russian military forces into the Daraa al-Balad area, accompanied by members of the security committee of the Syrian regime and dignitaries of Daraa, within the framework of the new agreement reached under Russian auspices.



Israel Is Ramping up Annexation of West Bank, UN Rights Chief Says 

Israeli army vehicles block a road during an Israeli military operation in the West Bank city of Jenin, 14 March 2025. (EPA)
Israeli army vehicles block a road during an Israeli military operation in the West Bank city of Jenin, 14 March 2025. (EPA)
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Israel Is Ramping up Annexation of West Bank, UN Rights Chief Says 

Israeli army vehicles block a road during an Israeli military operation in the West Bank city of Jenin, 14 March 2025. (EPA)
Israeli army vehicles block a road during an Israeli military operation in the West Bank city of Jenin, 14 March 2025. (EPA)

Israel has significantly expanded and consolidated settlements in the occupied West Bank as part of the steady integration of these territories into the State of Israel, in breach of international law, the UN human rights office said on Tuesday.

The report to be presented to the UN Human Rights Council later this month comes amid growing fears of annexation amid US policy shifts under President Donald Trump and new settler outposts in areas of the West Bank seen as part of a future Palestinian state.

"The transfer by Israel of parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies amounts to a war crime," UN High Commissioner Volker Turk said in a statement accompanying the report, urging the international community to take meaningful action on Israel’s advancing settlement.

"Israel must immediately and completely cease all settlement activities and evacuate all settlers, stop the forcible transfer of the Palestinian population, and prevent and punish attacks by its security forces and settlers," he said.

Israel disengaged from the UN Human Rights Council earlier this year, alleging a chronic anti-Israeli bias. Its military says it is conducting counter-terrorism operations in the West Bank and targeting suspected militants.