Jarba: Egypt sponsored ceasefire due to its neutral stance in Syrian crisis

CAIRO – 5 August 2017: Egypt has sponsored the ceasefire that was announced in war-stricken areas in northern Syria because it did not involve in any attempt to shed the blood of the Syrian people, said Syria’s “Al-Ghad” (Tomorrow) opposition movement chairperson, Ahmed Jarba, in a press conference in Cairo on Saturday.

He added that Egypt has been chosen to sponsor the ceasefire agreements due to its good relations with Russia and neutral stance towards the Syrian crisis.

Jarba held a press conference in Cairo on Saturday to discuss the current developments in Syria, following the Egypt-Russia brokered cease-fire affecting some cities in Northern Syria.

He has consistently thanked President Abdel-Fatah al-Sisi and the Egyptian government for its mediation efforts, hosting the negotiations and the agreement signing.

Egypt and Russia have brokered two ceasefire agreements between Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s forces and armed opposition fighters in certain areas in northern Syria.

On July 23, the first cease-fire was announced in Ghouta region in Damascus, while the second de-escalation deal was announced in an area in northern Homs countryside on August 3.

Syria's Tomorrow opposition movement was founded in March 2016 by Syrian National Council member Ahmad Jarba. Recently, Syria's Tomorrow opposition movement signed a ceasefire agreement in eastern Ghouta with the Syrian regime.

The Syrian political situation has been deteriorating since the protests that emerged with the Arab Spring revolutions in 2011, when the opposition created the ‘Free Syrian Army’ to face Assad’s forces. The situation worsened when the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group interfered in the country in 2014.

About 470,000 people had been killed since the beginning of the war as of February 2016, according to latest data from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Some 1.6 million Syrian have been domestically displaced, while the number of refugees reached 4.8 million people, the data added.