Two-day Ceasefire in Effect in Three Syrian Towns

The anti-Assad rebel group Ahrar al-Sham and Hezbollah, the Lebanese political group and militia fighting alongside Syrian government forces, have reached a two-day ceasefire in three Syrian towns.

The temporary truce was agreed in order to permit the delivery of humanitarian supplies and medical aid to Zabadani, a rebel-held town, and Fou’a and Kafraya, both controlled by the Syrian government, the BBC reports.

The ceasefire began at 6:00 a.m. on Wednesday morning, according to Hezbollah’s television station, al-Manar. The agreement comes after weeks of attacks on Zabadani by Syrian army forces and Hezbollah fighters.

Israel Charges Syrian Druze in Occupied Golan with ‘Murder’

Two Syrian Druze from the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights were charged with murder in an Israeli court on Monday, following a fatal mob attack on an ambulance carrying a wounded Syrian rebel in June.

Bashira Mahmoud, 48, and Amal Abu Salah, 21, are accused of being among a crowd of Syrians who attacked the ambulance as it made its way from the boundary line between the Israeli-occupied part of the Golan Heights and the rest of Syria.

The attacks resulted in the death of Syrian rebel Munzer Halil, while another passenger, Alaa Shaaban, is still recovering in an Israeli hospital.

“Abu Salah is accused of battering Halil with a board and of pounding a stone into his hip,” McClatchy reports. “Mahmoud is also accused of hurling a stone at Halil’s upper body.”

Residents of the Golan have accused Israel of aiding Syrian rebel groups that have attacked and killed Druze in Syria.

U.S. Strikes Rebel Arms, Says Syrian Monitor

The U.S.-led coalition in Syria struck an arms depot belonging to an al-Qaida affiliate overnight on Wednesday.

The strike targeted the Atmeh area of the Idlib province and resulted in the deaths of ten members of Jaish al-Sunna, an armed group aligned with Jabhat al-Nusra, the Syrian branch of al-Qaida, according to Agence France-Presse.

“The strikes hit the weapons depot, but there are civilians living nearby,” Rami Abdulrahman, director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, told AFP.

Much of Idlib has in recent months been captured by the Army of Conquest, an alliance of Islamist rebel groups.

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