Assad's regime announces unilateral ceasefire in southern Syria

Bashar al Assad's Syrian regime said it would suspend combat operations in southern Syria until Thursday, including in Assad's Syrian regime said it would suspend combat operations in southern Syria until Thursday, including in Quneitra province where Israel has hit army outposts in recent days.

The regime general command said the ceasefire took effect from midday (0900 GMT) on Sunday and was being done to support "reconciliation efforts", in the second unilateral ceasefire in the last two weeks.

On June 17, the regime announced a ceasefire that only affected fighting in the southern city of Deraa along the border with Israel.

This latest announcement extends the ceasefire alongside Deraa city to the whole of southern Syria, including the strategic southwestern Quneitra province near the border with Israel and also Sweida province in the southeast.

Astana talks

The violence in Syria continues ahead of the fifth round of Astana talks on July 4-5 which is seeking solutions to end to the six-year-long conflict.

At talks in Astana last May, Russia, Turkey and Iran signed an agreement to establish four de-escalation zones inside Syria.

The de-escalation zones cover four areas held by the Syrian opposition: Idlib, Homs, Eastern Ghouta and Deraa.

The agreement has reduced fighting on the ground and limited regime air strikes on opposition territories.

But the regime has consolidated its position in the capital and is attacking opposition positions in Eastern Ghouta and Deraa.

Raqqa airstrike

The US-led coalition airstrikes killed at least 11 civilians, including four children in the western Raqqa district of Al-Daraiya, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

The coalition war jet conducted the attack late on Sunday, the London-based war monitoring group said.

The latest casualties puts the civilian death toll from coalition raids at more than 200 since the operation to retake Raqqa began in June.

TRT World's Yasin Eken reports from Gaziantep on Turkey's border with Syria.

The US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) coalition on Sunday said it had entered Daesh-held Raqqa from the south for the first time.

The SDF had deployed around 1,000 additional fighters to the front lines, the SDF media office said in a statement, citing its commanders.

They had "completed their training in SDF camps in cooperation with the coalition forces, with the aim of supporting the campaign and achieving new progress," the SDF media office said.