Syrian army fully ready for ceasefire - Syrian ambassador in Moscow

MOSCOW, February 26. /TASS/. The Syrian army is fully ready for ceasefire and coordinates its actions with Russian representatives, Syrian Ambassador to Moscow Riad Haddad told TASS on Friday. "The Syrian army is ready for ceasefire, only one order is required for Damascus to stop military actions," Haddad said at the conference "Middle East: From Violence to Security" at the Valdai discussion club. "We are coordinating our actions with representatives of the Russian Federation," he added noting that "the only issue here is whether opposition representatives will comply" with the ceasefire. Answering a question on who will monitor the observation of ceasefire regime in Syria, Haddad said: "Russia and United States are two countries supervising this process." On Monday night Russia and the United States released a joint statement saying that the ceasefire will take effect in Syria at 00:00 Damascus Time on February 27. "The United States of America and the Russian Federation, as co-chairs of the International Syria Support Group (ISSG) and seeking to achieve a peaceful settlement of the Syrian crisis with full respect for the fundamental role of the United Nations, are fully determined to provide their strongest support to end the Syrian conflict and establish conditions for a successful Syrian-led political transition process, facilitated by the UN," the joint statement of the United States and Russia said. The statement points out that the cessation of hostilities is to be applied to all parties to the Syrian conflict but for Daesh (the Arabic acronym for Islamic State) and Jebhat an-Nusra (both are banned in Russia) "or other terrorist organizations designated by the UN Security Council." Read more