Local ceasefires have occasionally been brokered to allow food and medical aid into besieged areas.
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The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said there were reports of dead and injured in the heavy fire on Fuaa and Kafraya that started on Sunday night, but it had no confirmed toll.
How this came about is the real interesting story, as both sides agree that it was the result of negotiations which were mediated by both the Turkish and Iranian governments, a rare show of cooperation in a Syrian Civil War they have normally been at odds over. Sources said Erdoğan took that decision in protest of the Iranian media’s critical coverage of him and Turkey’s Syria policy.
Fuaa and Kafraya are among the last regime-held outposts in the northwestern province of Idlib, most of which has been captured by an alliance that includes Al-Qaeda affiliate Al-Nusra Front.
An Iranian foreign ministry spokeswoman said details of a new plan for the Syria crisis would be revealed after Zarif held talks with Damascus and other players.
Meanwhile, at least 37 civilians were killed Wednesday in the Syrian government airstrikes near Damascus, while at least 13 people died as rebels fired a barrage of rockets into the capital, a monitor said.
Two Hezbollah fighters were also killed since Monday in Zabadani, located just 8 kilometers from Lebanon’s eastern border, the source added.
The war has turned Syria into a patchwork of areas run by an array of armed groups including the ultra-hardline Islamic State, a well-organized Kurdish militia, the Nusra Front and other rebels who espouse a nationalist agenda.
Earlier, rebel forces were reported to have advanced to the edge of the north-western region that is the heartland of President Bashar al-Assad’s Alawite sect.
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The rebels, well supplied and attacking in large numbers, had seized high ground in Sahl Al Ghab in an attack that began some two weeks ago, increasing the risk posed by rebel artillery and guided anti-tank missiles, the military source said.
