US welcomes conditional truce in Syria's Idlib region

Air strikes on province halted on Friday after Syrian regime agreed to ceasefire and buffer zone

A Syrian street vendor waits for customers in the town of Ariha, in the south of Syria's Idlib province, on August 2, 2019. AFP

The US on Sunday welcomed a ceasefire in Syria's north-western Idlib region after months of deadly government bombardments on civilians sites such as hospitals and schools.

But Washington insisted that the attacks against civilians must stop.

Air strikes on Idlib province were stopped on Friday after the Syrian regime agreed to a truce on the condition that rebel backer Turkey implements a buffer zone in the area.

Most of the region and parts of Hama, Aleppo and Latakia, which are home to about 3 million people, are controlled by Hayat Tahrir Al Sham, a militant group led by Syria's former Al Qaeda affiliate.

The area is supposed to be protected from a government offensive under a September deal between Turkey and Russia.

But it has come under increasing fire by Damascus and its backer Moscow since the end of April.

The government of Syrian President Bashar Al Assad has accused Turkey of dragging its feet in implementing the deal, which provides for a buffer zone of up to 20 kilometres, free of heavy and medium-sized weaponry.

The US praised the agreement.

"The United States believes there can be no military solution to the Syrian conflict and only a political solution can ensure a stable and secure future for all Syrians," US State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus said.

The US reaffirmed its support for a UN-led peace effort, with Ms Ortagus calling it "the only viable path to a political solution".

"We further believe the only viable path to a political solution is the UN-led political process in Geneva, including constitutional reform and UN-supervised elections," she said.

The US will support the work of UN Special Envoy Geir Pedersen to advance a Syrian-led and Syrian-owned political process that would create a permanent, peaceful, and political end to the conflict, the State Department said.

But the chief of Hayat Tahrir Al Sham, the main militant group in Idlib, on Saturday refused any withdrawal from a buffer zone after a truce went into effect in the area.

"What the regime could not take militarily or by force, they will not get through peaceful means or through negotiations and politics," said Abu Mohamed Al Jolani. "We will never withdraw from the zone."

The region, comprising Idlib province and parts of nearby Hama, was part of the last major stronghold of armed opposition to Mr Al Assad, who has vowed to reclaim all of Syria.

The US State Department also commended efforts by Turkey and Russia to restore the ceasefire they agreed to in September 2018.

Since late April, 790 civilians have been killed in regime and Russian attacks, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitor says.

Fighting over the same period has claimed the lives of almost 2,000 combatants, including 900 regime loyalists, the monitor says.

More than 400,000 people have been displaced and dozens of hospitals and schools damaged since April, the UN says.

The Syrian conflict has killed more than 370,000 people and driven millions from their homes since it started with the brutal repression of anti-government protests in 2011.