Originally posted by the Voice of America.
Voice of America content is produced by the Voice of America,
a United States federal government-sponsored entity, and is in
the public domain.


Syria Cease-fire Hangs by a Thread

Jacob Wirtschafter

   AMMAN - The cease-fire agreement that Turkish President Recep Tayyip
   Erdogan and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin reached for Syria's
   battered Idlib province was hanging by a thread Tuesday.

   All sides claimed violations of the terms of the deal that legitimized
   Turkey's extended military presence in Syria's northwest, while
   enshrining territorial gains by President Bashar al-Assad's
   Russian-backed army.

   "Despite the cease-fire, several towns in the southern Idlib
   countryside and Aleppo's western outskirts are still being bombed daily
   by artillery shelling," said Sayeed Mousa Zaidan, spokesman for the
   area's civilian defense force commonly known as the White Helmets. "Our
   teams have documented the dropping of 91 artillery shells since the
   agreement took effect."

   On Sunday, the White Helmets rescue teams pulled the body of a
   38-year-old man and his teenage son from under the rubble of their home
   in Sarmin.

   The town 15 kilometers southeast of Idlib has become a flashpoint in
   the battle for control between the Turkish-backed Syrian National Army
   and forces loyal to Assad.

.