“Today, Sergei Lavrov and I, on behalf of our presidents and our countries call on every Syrian stakeholder to support the plan that the United States and Russian Federation have reached, to. bring this catastrophic conflict to the quickest possible end through a political process”, US Secretary of State John Kerry said.
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The United States and Russian Federation hailed a breakthrough deal early on Saturday to put Syria’s peace process back on track, though the war-torn country’s rebels said they doubted it would hold and violence raged on in Aleppo.
The landmark deal, reached after marathon talks in Geneva Friday, could also lead to the first joint military operations by Moscow and Washington against militants. Government forces also seized more territory outside Aleppo, tightening the siege of opposition areas, according to the Syrian news agency SANA.
Currently, airstrikes are being carried out in Syria by the government, Russia, Turkey and the US-led worldwide coalition.
A leading member of the High Negotiations Committee (HNC) said the opposition umbrella group cautiously welcomed the agreement, but said it required “effective enforcement mechanisms” if any truce deal is to “credible”.
Jabhat Fatah al-Sham, one of the most powerful factions in Syria, is part of the Fatah Army coalition that played an instrumental role in the fighting against Assad’s forces over the past year in northern Syria.
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.
The potential breakthrough deal, which launches a nationwide cessation of hostilities by sundown Monday, will hinge on compliance by Assad’s Russian-backed forces and USA -supported rebel groups, plus key regional powers such as Turkey, Iran and Saudi Arabia with hands directly or indirectly in Syria’s 5-1/2 years of carnage.
The agreement, by the powers that back opposing sides in the five-year-old war, promises a nationwide truce from sundown on Monday, improved access for humanitarian aid and joint military targeting of hardline Islamist groups.
But the commander and other rebel leaders stopped short of fully rejecting the agreement’s interim cease-fire, which is slated to come into effect in stages beginning on Monday at sunset.
More than 290,000 people have been killed since the conflict in Syria first erupted in March 2011, and several attempts at securing a long-lasting truce have failed.
The Assad government in Damascus announced late on Saturday that it had agreed to the ceasefire terms, Syrian state media reported.
Coordinated Russia-US military action can only happen if Moscow and the Assad regime fully meet commitments to cease violence for seven days, but even securing the prospect is a diplomatic win for Moscow. Mr Lavrov said the deal would allow efficient co-operation in the struggle against terrorism, and expand humanitarian access to Syria’s worst-hit towns and cities.
Syrian opposition forces are welcoming the deal while expressing skepticism a cease-fire can hold, noting Russian Federation and the Syrian military did not adhere to a previous agreement. Mr. Kerry acknowledged the concerns, but said the deal had “potential” to work because of the efforts Moscow and Washington have put into it over many months.
A day earlier, the United States and Russian Federation announced a plan to bring about a ceasefire in Syria.
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Still, a senior official inside Ahrar al-Sham said rebels would nevertheless abide by the cease-fire to regroup after a punishing conflict with pro-government forces over Aleppo.
