US, Russia discuss worsening situation in southwestern Syria de-escalation zone

By  Trend

Washington and Moscow are discussing the deteriorating situation in the de-escalation zone in southwestern Syria, US Department of State Spokesperson Heather Nauert said, TASS reports.

"Now as we watch the situation there, we have extreme concerns about the situation. There are ongoing airstrikes; some humanitarian aid had been stopped," she said. "We understand that some humanitarian aid may be getting back in again, at least for now, but it’s certainly not a safe situation."

"So we’re continuing to have talks with the Russians, we’re continuing to have talks with the Jordanians and express our extreme concern about the situation there," Nauert added.

According to the spokesperson, the ceasefire agreement in Syria’s southwest was reached by United States, Russia, and Jordan about a year ago.

"Secretary Pompeo spoke earlier today to Foreign Minister Lavrov. One of the issues that they did discuss with this - was this southwest Syria ceasefire situation," the spokesperson added.

Earlier, Washington claimed that the Syrian government’s troops conduct their operations in the de-escalation zone in the country’s southwest in breach of earlier agreements.

On July 7, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said after a meeting of the Russian and US presidents, Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump, about organization of a de-escalation zone in southern Syria. Ceasefire there began at noon on July 9. On August 23, a joint monitoring center began working in Amman.

The Presidents of Russia and the US Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump approved a joint statement on sidelines of the APEC summit in Da Nang, saying that the Syrian conflict has no military solution and conflict settlement should be carried out within the framework of the Geneva process, in line with UN Security Council Resolution 2254.