Neither the Syrian government, nor the Syrian opposition, have given a whole-hearted endorsement of the deal, which was agreed to on Saturday in Geneva by US Secretary of State John Kerry and his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov.
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A cease-fire came into effect in Syria at sunset Monday in the latest attempt led by the United States and Russian Federation to bring some quiet in the 5 1/2-year civil war.
Iran’s semi-official ISNA news agency on Sunday quotes Foreign Ministry spokesman Bahram Ghassemi as saying that “Iran has always welcomed a cease-fire in Syria and the facilitation of humanitarian access to all people in this country”.
Six people died on Monday night following the shelling of Aleppo by the moderate opposition forces, with 10 others receiving injuries, Colonel Sergey Kopytsin from the Russian Reconciliation Center in Syria said Tuesday.
With major defeats from Turkey-backed rebels and US -backed Kurdish forces in northern Syria, IS fighters have been looking for new areas of control.
Another activist group, the Local Co-ordination Committees, reported some shelling in Aleppo and the southern region of Quneitra, while state media said there were “breaches” of the truce by rebels in the contested city of Aleppo. Tehran has sent some of its top military commanders, as well as Revolutionary Guard forces, to bolster Assad’s troops.
If all goes well, after seven days of reduced violence and increased humanitarian aid access, plans call for the US and Russian Federation to work together to defeat the Islamic State and Nusra.
But many Syrians, especially those living in rebel-held areas, aren’t sure how long any break in violence would last.
A letter to the opposition delivered over the weekend by the US special envoy for Syria, Michael Ratney, spelled out details similar to those outlined by Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Geneva on Saturday.
Bogdanov told the state-owned RIA Novosti news agency that he expects talks between the Syrian government and opposition groups to resume in early October, adding that Staffan de Mistura, the United Nations envoy to Syria, would name the date.
Aid agencies stand poised to distribute much-needed assistance but say they are awaiting guarantees of security from all parties before beginning their deliveries to hundreds of thousands of desperate Syrians. The temporary cessation of hostilities will last 10 days and is meant to allow access for humanitarian aid. The rest include rebels, foreign fighters, Hezbollah militants, defectors from the Syrian army and others.
“We are ready to get assistance into Aleppo right away”, said Dominic Graham, Syria Response Director for global aid agency Mercy Corps.
Russian Federation is pushing to make public the text of the cease-fire deal, but Lavrov told reporters on Tuesday that the US opposes such a move.
The U.N. offices in Geneva, where de Mistura is based, was closed Monday to honor the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha.
“We hope and are prepared to commence those deliveries as soon as we are satisfied that the cessation of hostilities holds and that safe deliveries can be made”, he said.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says 18 militants were killed fighting government forces in the push in the south.
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The Israeli military said “two surface-to-air missiles were launched from Syria after the mission overnight to target Syrian artillery positions” but that the safety of Israeli planes was not compromised.
