RUSSIA AND FREE SYRIAN ARMY FAIL TO REACH AGREEMENT ON SOUTHERN SYRIA

SLF fighters before the attack on HTS

Russian officials and commanders of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) failed to reach an agreement on southern Syria during a recent meeting, which was held in the town of Bosra al-Sham in the eastern Daraa countryside, the Syrian pro-opposition news outlet Enab Baladi reported on June 30.

Abu Shaima, a spokesman for the FSA operations room “al-Buniyan al-Marsus,” told Enab Baladi that the Russian delegation insisted during the negotiation that the FSA should surrender to the Syrian Arab Army (SAA). The Russian side didn’t even offer an evacuation agreement to the FSA, according to Abu Shaima.

The Hammurabi’s Justice News blog, which is linked to the US-led coalition and the FSA, reported that a new round of negotiation will be held on July 1. According to the pro-opposition blog, Russia will bring a new offer to the table in the upcoming round.

The FSA will likely accept any Russian offer that would allow it to withdraw to the opposition-held areas in northern Syria. Previously, similar evacuation deals were successfully implemented in the governorates of Homs, Damascus and Aleppo.

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