Beginning at sundown on Monday in Syria, Russia and the USA would use their influence on the parties they support in the conflict, including the regime and opposition groups, to try to bring about seven consecutive days of relative calm at the significantly lower levels of violence that took place in February under a cease-fire that was backed by the United Nations Security Council but has since unraveled.
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The agreement, by the powers that back opposing sides in the five-year-old war, promises a nationwide truce from sunset on Monday, and improves access for humanitarian aid and joint military targeting of hardline Islamist groups.
Rebels now face the “biggest and most momentous decision since they chose to take up arms against the Assad regime in 2011”, he said.
“The fighting is flaring on all the fronts of southern Aleppo”, rebel spokesman Captain Abdul Salam Abdul Razak said.
Russian Federation is a main backer of Assad’s government while the USA has been supporting rebel groups trying to remove him from power.
The Syrian regime announced its support of the ceasefire deal Saturday, according to the state-run TV.
“This requires halting all attacks, including aerial bombardments, and any attempts to gain additional territory at the expense of the parties to the cessation”.
All attacks and airstrikes will be stopped and unobstructed access will be allowed to besieged areas, including the northern city of Aleppo, according to the truce.
Meanwhile, Syria’s opposition High Negotiations Committee said Saturday it did not trust the regime to commit to the truce without Russian pressure.
Syria has been mired in civil war since 2011, with government forces loyal to President Bashar Assad fighting numerous opposition factions and extremist groups.
State news agency SANA said the Syrian government accepts the agreement, adding that hostilities will stop in the northern city of Aleppo, the country’s largest, for “humanitarian reasons”.
The Syrian opposition on Saturday, September 10, cautiously welcomed a ceasefire deal agreed by Moscow and Washington that could also see the first joint military campaign by the two powers against jihadists.
The army and pro-government militias pushed from the city’s the Ramousah area towards rebel pockets in the Amriyah district, both sides said.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 30 people were killed in Aleppo province and another 39 were killed by airstrikes in neighboring Idlib province.
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The monitor confirmed reports by residents and activists in rebel-held eastern Aleppo who said Syrian army helicopters dropped barrel bombs on residential civilian areas in several districts with scores injured and at least four civilians killed.
