"We have realized that the shortest and the most effective way [of resolving the Syrian conflict] is establishing contact with the Russian side for reaching the needed result. This is, as everyone knows, the only way available now," Ahmad Jarba said during the group's press conference in Cairo.
On Thursday, Syria’s Tomorrow said in a statement that the group had acted as a mediator in the negotiations on establishment of a de-escalation zone in the northern part of the Syrian Homs province. The statement added that the agreement on the zone establishment was signed under the patronage of the Egyptian government and with the Russian Defense Ministry serving as a guarantor and called on the conflicting sides to adhere to the deal.
Also on Thursday, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said the representatives of the ministry and moderate Syrian opposition had reached an agreement on Monday on the third de-escalation zone in Syria, north of Homs. The spokesman added that 84 settlements with a population of more than 147,000 people were included in the zone.
The memorandum of the de-escalation zones establishment was signed at the May round of the Syrian settlement talks in Astana by Iran, Russia and Turkey, the three guarantor states of the Syrian ceasefire regime.
