The Syrian army said it would abide by the stipulations of the ceasefire for a week, while stressing that it would still defend itself against any acts of aggression and continue attacking Islamist groups, such as the self-styled “Islamic State” (IS).
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It’s the second attempt this year to try reduce violence in war-torn Syria where the 5 ½ year conflict has killed more than 250,000 people and displaced half the country’s population of 11 million.
In this photo released by the Syrian official news agency SANA, Syrian President Bashar Assad, center, walks on a street with officials after performing the morning Eid al-Adha prayers in Daraya, a blockaded Damascus suburb, Syria, Monday, Sept. 12, 2016. Jabhat Fatah al-Sham, an al-Qaida-linked group previously known as the Nusra Front, has denounced the agreement.
Russian Federation said De Mistura could invite government and opposition representatives to new peace talks “at the very beginning of October”.
For the moment, “calm is prevailing in all areas”, said Ahmad al-Masalmeh, an opposition activist in the southern province of Daraa – where the 2011 uprising began.
Residents and activists of the besieged rebel portion of Aleppo said that Syrian government helicopters had dropped barrel bombs on one neighborhood of the city and that loyalist forces were shelling a route meant to be used for the delivery of humanitarian aid. He spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retribution. The Syrian government air force would be grounded and debarred from attacking Al-Nusra, the United States government insists. Whether the truce will ever get off the ground will likely depend on whether Moscow can restrain its client dictator, who hours before the cease-fire began repeated his vow to recapture all of Syria by force. The deal potentially opens the door to intelligence sharing on air operations by US and Russian warplanes, as well as joint airstrikes against Islamic State and other jihadi groups operating in the country.
The truce brokered by Russian Federation and the United States began at sundown on Monday, in the latest bid to end a conflict that has killed more than 300,000 people since March 2011. Staffan de Mistura said in a text message to The Associated Press on Monday that no statement from his office about the truce was expected before the following afternoon. But it has received mixed messages of commitment from various rebel factions. Rebels say they fear the government or its Russian allies can use the presence of fighters from the former Nusra Front to justify broader attacks.
The RIA news agency quoted Russia’s foreign ministry on Tuesday as saying Moscow and Tehran had no differences over the ceasefire deal.
But many Islamist rebel groups cooperate closely with Fateh al-Sham, and the biggest of them – the powerful Ahrar al-Sham group – has criticised the terms of the Russian-US deal.
“We have not heard any plane flying or strikes”, said activist Abdel-Mouneim Juneid, based in a rebel district in Aleppo. Over 2,000 people have been killed in fighting over the past 40 days in the city, including 700 civilians and 160 children, according to a Syrian human rights group.
In the aftermath, rebels and opposition activists were asking on Sunday whether the government’s side could be trusted.
Several previous negotiated cease-fires have all eventually collapsed.
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Just after nightfall, government helicopters dropped barrel bombs and troops were shelling the main road for delivering humanitarian supplies, residents said. Perhaps it’s the only one available to a USA policy that swears off, as doomed to failure, the same limited military measures that Russian Federation has employed with success.
