Truce shaken with fresh mortar attack in Syrian Shiite towns

Several mortar shells slammed into two Shiite towns in Syria on Saturday, marking the first attack since a truce went into force between the militants and the government troops, a monitor group reported.

The shells targeted the besieged Shiite towns of Kafraya and Foa in the countryside of the northwestern province of Idlib, after both towns as well as the city of Zabadani, northwest of the capital Damascus, has seen a cease-fire that went into effect last Wednesday.

It wasn't immediately known whether the mortar attacks would bring the truce to a collapse, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. The pan-Arab al-Mayadeen TV said 300 mortar rounds were fired at both adjacent towns. No reports on causalities or losses have been reported yet.

On Wednesday, the Syrian army and armed militants entered into truce designed to usher a simultaneous 48-hour cease-fire that was later extended for another 24 hours in the city of Zabadani, northwest of Damascus and near the Lebanese borders, and the besieged Shiite towns of the northwestern province of Idlib, Kafraya and Foa.

Syrian officials and local reports said that Turkey and Iran helped broker the truce in Zabadani, as the Turks voiced the demands of the Ahrar al-Sham rebel movement and the Iranians obviously covered the side of the Syrian government, in unprecedented mediation that reflected a new approach by regional players.

The truce came over two weeks after the Syrian army backed by the Shiite Lebanese Hezbollah mounted a shattering offensive against Sunni-led militant groups, mainly the Ahrar al-Sham Movement, in the city of Zabadani.

In retaliation to the government troops' offensive, several jihadi groups in the northwestern province of Idlib mounted an attack against the Shiite towns of Kafraya and Foa, one of the few remaining government strongholds in Idlib.

The rebels in Idlib said they will continue attacking the Shiite towns until government troops halt their offensive on the Sunni-led insurgency in Zabadani, in a sign of how sectarian the Syrian crisis has become.

The Observatory, which relies on a network of activists on ground, didn't say that in tandem with the cease-fire, negotiations were taking place between Iranian and Hezbollah delegations on one side and the local militants of Zabdani on the other side.

It added that both parties agreed that the government troops open a way out for the rebels inside Zabadani to withdraw to rebel-held areas in the north and in return the rebels in Idlib will allow the residents of Foa and Kafraya to evacuate their villages and head to Damascus and its countryside.

Negotiations could also result in the release of 1,000 rebels from government jails, amid a higher demand by the rebels for the release of 20,000 detained rebels and sympathizers with the jihadist groups.

The Syrian government hasn't divulged the content of the negotiations and didn't comment on the release of the rebels.

Pro-government media outlets said the cease-fire was an "unannounced truce."