The United States and Russian Federation reached a deal on a new Syrian ceasefire, which, if it holds, could see the first joint military effort by the two powers against militants.
Advertisement
An air strike on a market in Idlib killed up to 60 people while at least 45 died in strikes on Aleppo province, opposition activists say.
The deadliest strikes were in Idlib, capital of the province of the same name, where they targeted a market, leaving 58 civilians including 13 children dead, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. The LCC said the airstrikes were carried out by Russian warplanes, adding that they left a number of civilians dead or wounded.
The ceasefire is to go into effect at sundown on September 12 Syrian time, the first day of the Muslim holiday Eid.
The plan starts with a seven-day continuous “genuine reduction of violence”, in Kerry’s words, and broad, unrestricted humanitarian access to the ravaged northern city of Aleppo and other besieged areas.
Syria’s 5-year civil war has killed thousands in Aleppo, the main focus of clashes between insurgents, including Western-backed rebels, and pro-government forces backed by Russian Federation and Iran.
In a letter sent to Syrian rebels on Saturday, US State Department envoy Michael Ratney urged armed opposition groups to distance themselves from Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, formerly known as the Nusra Front, or there would be “severe consequences”.
The second in command of the powerful, ultraconservative Ahrar al-Sham group condemned the superpower agreement as an effort to secure President Bashar Assad’s government and drive rebel factions apart.
US President Barack Obama and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin had previously held “productive” talks about achieving peace in Syria at the G20 Summit, but they ended without agreement.
Basma Kodmani, of the Saudi-backed opposition alliance High Negotiations Committee (HNC), said the group is cautious of the agreement, adding that there needed to be mechanisms to ensure the “enforcement of the deal”.
In a letter, he said the initial truce would last 48 hours and could then be renewed, and that it would be “more effective than its predecessor” because it would halt Syrian strikes on “on civilians and the opposition”.
Both sides agreed not to release the documents publicly.
The violence suggests that it might be hard to implement the U.S. -Russia agreement.
Pro-regime forces have taken back a strategically important district on Aleppo’s southern outskirts, rolling back almost every gain from a month-long rebel offensive there.
“We are waiting for Russian Federation to persuade the regime that it is necessary to commit to this agreement” she told AFP.
Syria’s moderate Free Syrian Army (FSA) rebels said on Saturday they saw were skeptical the deal would be enforced as Damascus and Moscow had continued bombing their areas under earlier truces.
“If Aleppo is at peace, we believe that the prospects for a diplomatic solution will brighten”, he said. Fighting on the Syrian side of the Golan Heights was the source of an errant artillery shell falling inside of Israeli territory.
Advertisement
Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah group, which is fighting for the embattled regime in Syria’s civil war, says it supports the recently announced cease-fire agreement, but vowed to continue fighting against the Islamic State group and al-Qaida’s affiliate.
