Syria’s President Assad announces April parliamentary elections

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has called for parliamentary elections to be held on April 13.

The announcement was made via an official statement released by Syria’s presidential office on Monday and came directly after the US and Russia announced a ceasefire in the war-torn Arab country.

Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the conditions for the truce, which is set to take place on February 27 midnight Damascus time, on a Russian television broadcast.

“All warring sides in Syria must confirm, to us or to our US partners, their commitment to the ceasefire before noon on February 26,” he said.

Putin went on to note that his country and the US would jointly map out the locations where the warring sides were active.

“No combat operations will be conducted against them by the Syrian armed forces, the Russian armed forces and the US-led coalition,” the Russian president said, adding, “For their part, the opposition will cease hostilities against the Syrian armed forces and the groups providing support for them.”

The conditions of the ceasefire, which does not apply to the Daesh Takfir terrorist group and al-Qaeda-affiliated al-Nusra Front, were also released via a US State Department statement.

Meanwhile, Syria’s main opposition group, the Saudi-backed High Negotiations Committee (HNC), said it agreed “to respond positively to international efforts to reach a truce deal,” although its “commitment to the truce is conditional.”