Special to WorldTribune.com

LONDON — The regime of President Bashar Assad and Sunni rebels were
said to have quietly reached an accommodation in central Syria.

Diplomats said the Assad regime succeeded in negotiating ceasefires with
rebels around Damascus and other areas. They said the ceasefires were meant
to facilitate humanitarian aid to civilians in rebel-held towns.

“We are going to try to send the signals to all the Syrian sides on the need of establishing at least localized ceasefires, on the need to consider the lists of prisoners of war and simply prisoners, including civilians,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said.

In a briefing in Paris on Jan. 13, Lavrov said Russia was encouraging humanitarian convoys to East Ghouta and other suburbs south of Damascus. He
said Moscow’s effort was being conducted with the United States and supported by the International Committee of the Red Cross.

“The [Assad] government has declared its willingness to provide humanitarian convoys to [Palestinian refugee camps of] Yarmouk and Baza’a as early as today, and they declared the need to agree, together with the opposition and with support of the International Red Cross, the U.S., and Russia, on providing humanitarian aid to East Ghouta and to a number of other suburbs of Damascus, and we wait for similar steps from the opposition with regard to those areas of Syria which are so far blocked by the opposition,” Lavrov said.

The assertion of the Russian foreign minister was issued ahead of the
Geneva conference on Syria, scheduled for Jan. 22. The United States has
sought to persuade Islamist rebels, particularly those sponsored by Saudi
Arabia, to allow representatives to attend the conference.

“The moderate opposition, has agreed they will enforce a ceasefire,”
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said. “They will adhere to a ceasefire.”

A senior United Nations diplomat confirmed the quiet cooperation between
the rebels and Assad. UN special envoy for Syria, Lakhdar Brahimi, said
humanitarian aid was reaching Yarmouk, deemed the largest UN-sponsored
Palestinian refugee camp in the Middle East.

“We also were happy to hear of negotiations that have taken place
directly between the government and some armed groups around Damascus,”
Brahimi said.

  Bashar Assad, East Ghouta, John Kerry, rebels agree to ‘localized ceasefires’ in Damascus area, Russian foreign minister: Assad, Sergey Lavrov, Yarmouk