LATTAKIA, Jul. 17 (MNA) – The cessation of hostilities agreement has been violated five times by terrorist groups on Saturday, raising the total number of violations to 781 since the agreement came into effect on 27 February, the Russian coordination center said.

The Russian center, based in Hmeimim airbase in Lattakia, added in a statement that the so-called Jaish al-Islam has violated four times the agreement by targeting a number of towns in Damascus Countryside with mortar shells.

The Center pointed out that the number of towns joining the agreement of the cessation of hostilities has grown to 187.

The statement said that the ISIL and Jabhat al-Nusra terrorist organizations continue their attempts to foil the agreement through firing rocket and mortar shells against a number of town and residential neighborhoods in the countryside of Aleppo and Damascus.

It added that units of the Syrian Army thwarted a number of attacks with booby-trapped cars on military posts in the northern countryside of Aleppo.

The cessation of hostilities agreement does not cover ISIL, Jabhat al-Nusra and other groups designated as terrorist organizations by the UN Security Council.

SANA/MNA