Syrian government forces clashed with militants in Damascus

The truce agreement, which was scheduled to start implementation at nine o'clock on Friday, has not been implemented due to violations committed by the different conflicting parties, as governmental forces clashed with militants in Damascus and its eastern Ghouta.

Faylaq Al-Rahman accepted on Friday to join the de-escalation agreement in the eastern suburbs of Damascus after signing a deal with Russia to halt hostilities as of 9 pm and to lift the siege of eastern Ghouta.

“Following three days of negotiations with the Russian side, an agreement was signed to stop fighting as of 18/8/2017 at 21:00 Damascus time,” the group, one of the largest factions operating under the Free Army in Jobar and Ghouta, said in a statement.

It said the ceasefire deal includes lifting the siege of eastern Ghouta

Russia’s Defense Ministry confirmed on Friday signing a deal with Faylaq al-Rahman in the de-escalation zone of eastern Ghouta province.

A statement issued by the ministry said the deal was signed in Geneva, adding that the opposition group would refrain from launching attacks against diplomatic missions in Damascus, including the Russian embassy.  

The de-escalation zone in Eastern Ghouta is one of four zones of a plan approved in May by Russia, Turkey and Iran to stipulate a cessation of hostilities over designated areas.

Details of the de-escalation agreement would be announced in a press conference scheduled for next Monday.

“We promise the Syrian people to protect the principles of the Revolution in all our political works and military confrontations, until we see a free and dignified Syria,” the Faylaq said in the statement.

Separately, regime forces controlled on Friday four new gas fields and tightened the grip on ISIS militants in the center of the eastern desert.

As a response, ISIS militants launched a counter-attack while battles raged between the two sides on Friday night at the crossing of Maksar al-Hissan and Jab al-Jarah in the countryside of eastern Homs, leaving a number of casualties on both sides.

Syria's war has entered a new phase as President Bashar al-Assad extends his grip in areas being captured from Islamic State, using firepower freed by Russian-backed truces in western Syria.

Backed by Russia and Iran, the government hopes to steal a march on U.S.-backed militias in the attack on Islamic State's last major Syrian stronghold, the Deir al-Zor region that extends to the Iraqi border. Damascus hailed the capture of the town of al-Sukhna on Saturday as a big step in that direction.

The eastward march to Deir al-Zor, unthinkable two years ago when Assad seemed in danger, has underlined his ever more confident position and the dilemma facing Western governments that still want him to leave power in a negotiated transition.

The war for western Syria, long Assad's priority, has shifted down several gears thanks to the ceasefires, including one organized by Moscow and Washington in the southwest.

But there is no sign of these truces leading to a revival of peace talks aimed at putting Syria back together through a negotiated deal that would satisfy Assad's opponents and help resolve a refugee crisis of historic proportions.

Instead, Assad's face has been printed on Syrian banknotes for the first time, and his quest for outright victory suggests he may retrain his guns on rebel pockets in the west once his goals in the east are accomplished. Attacks on the last rebel stronghold near Damascus have escalated this month.

U.S. President Donald Trump's decision to end CIA support to rebels further weakened the insurgency in western Syria, while also depriving Western policymakers of one of their few levers of pressure.

They can only watch as Iranian influence increases through a multitude of Shi'ite militias, including Lebanon's Hezbollah, that have been crucial to Assad's gains and seem likely to remain in Syria for the foreseeable future, sealing Tehran's ascendancy.

Assad's opponents now hope his Russian allies will conclude he must be removed from power as the burden of stabilizing the country weighs and the West withholds reconstruction support.

With hundreds of thousands of people killed and militias controlling swathes of the country, Assad's opponents say Syria can never be stable again with him in power.

"There is little doubt that the Russians would like a political solution to the war. The war is costly for them, and the longer it lasts, the less it will appear to be a success for Putin," said Rolf Holmboe, Research Fellow at the Canadian Global Affairs Institute and former Danish Ambassador to Syria. "But the Russians want a solution on their terms, which is one where Assad stays in power," he said.

"The ceasefires do two things. They allow the Russians to take control of the political negotiations and look good internationally. But more importantly, they allow Assad and the Iranian-backed militias to free troops to grab the territory that Islamic State is about to lose."