Opposition rebels agreed Thursday to surrender their strategic area of control in Quneitra to Syrian regime forces, ending their presence in the two provinces of Quneitra and Daraa following their withdrawal to Idlib. Rami Abdel Rahman, the director of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, told Asharq Al-Awsat that clauses of the deal stipulate that opposition factions hand over their heavy and medium arms allowing the Syrian civil police to enter areas controlled by factions in the demilitarized zone. “Thanks to this deal, the regime would control most areas in southern Syria, except some pockets controlled by ISIS and members of Jabhat al-Nusra,” Abdel Rahman said. A rebel, who took part in the delegation mediating the deal, said Russian military police would accompany the Syrian army brigades into a demilitarized zone that has been in place on the Golan Heights since 1974. However, the rebel said the date for implementing the deal was not set yet. Quneitra borders Jordan, Lebanon and the Israeli-occupied side of the Golan Heights. Meanwhile, officials from the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) held a series of meetings with Israeli and Syrian officers to arrange the return of Syrian forces to Golan, based on the 1974 Separation of Forces Agreement and to establish a committee to monitor the issue of detainees. Separately, General Joseph Votel, commander of the US Central Command, said he had not received any new guidance about the war in Syria since the conflict was discussed in a closed-door meeting between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. “For us right now, it’s kind of steady as she goes. We have received no further direction than we’ve currently been operating under,” Votel said at a Pentagon news briefing, speaking via video link from his offices in Tampa, Florida. Trump on Thursday said he looked forward to a second meeting with Putin.