Takfiri militants agree to renounce violence as deal with Russia on south Syria looms

Foreign-sponsored Takfiri militants say they have agreed to surrender their munitions and renounced violence as they are close to reaching a deal with Russia, which includes a ceasefire and the handover of the southwestern Syrian province of Dara’a to government forces.

A meeting between militant and Russian negotiators was still continuing on Friday afternoon, with no confirmation of a final agreement.

Hussein Abazeed, a spokesman for militants in southern Syria, said a ceasefire would take hold in Dara’a, which is known as the birth place of Syria’s foreign-backed militancy.

“Militants will hand over their heavy-duty weapons in stages in exchange for the government withdrawing from four towns” it had recently recaptured, Abazeed noted.

Government forces would then take control of a key route running along the border with Jordan, up to the Nassib border crossing.

“The Nassib crossing will come under a Syrian civil administration, with Russian supervision,” Abazeed noted.

Ibrahim Jabbawi, another militant spokesman, confirmed the agreement on a ceasefire, the surrender of heavy weapons, and the handover of the frontier road with Jordan.

Meanwhile, Syria’s state-run television network reported on Friday that government forces had captured the Nassib border crossing following a two-week-long battle.

Activists said Syrian police forces reached the crossing, which the Syrian army lost to Takfiri militants in 2015.

The recapture of Dara’a is highly important because it borders the occupied Golan Heights which Israel has used to treat wounded militants for years.

The territory's return to the Syrian government control would cut the much-reported collaboration between Israel and militants and deal a blow to Tel Aviv's plans to annex the Golan Heights.

Syrian army forces pound Jabhat Fateh al-Sham terrorists in Latakia

Separately, the Syrian army is currently engaged in flushing out the remnants of Takfiri terrorist groups holed up in the country’s western coastal province of Latakia.

A Syrian military source, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Russia’s Sputnik news agency that government forces had intensified their artillery bombardment of the militant positions over the past few days, especially after militants affiliated to the Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, formerly known as al-Nusra Front, Takfiri terror group carried out a spate of missile strikes on Latakia.

Syria has been gripped by foreign-backed militancy since March 2011. The Syrian government says the Israeli regime and its Western and regional allies are aiding Takfiri terrorist groups that are wreaking havoc in the country.

Russia has been helping Syrian forces in an ongoing battle in the province of Dayr al-Zawr as Daesh struggles to keep its last positions in eastern Syria.

The Russian military assistance, which began in September 2015 at the official request of the Syrian government, has proved effective as the Syrians continue to recapture key areas from Daesh and other terrorist groups across the country with the backing of Russia’s air cover.

On May 21, the General Command of the Syrian Army and Armed Forces announced in a statement that complete security was restored to Damascus and its countryside after al-Hajar al-Aswad district and al-Yarmouk camp had been totally purged of Daesh terrorists.

The development was preceded by flushing the Takfiris out of the towns of Yalda, Babbila and Beit Sahem on the southern outskirts of Damascus.

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