But as well as a reduction in violence the United States also demanded that supplies be allowed to reach areas under siege across the country and especially in Aleppo, Syria’s second-largest city.
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The truce has been holding despite some violations, with the Syrian opposition on Thursday reporting 46 cease-fire violations around the country.
Despite positive developments, United Nations convoys have yet to be given the green light to reach civilians trapped in priority areas including east Aleppo, Kafraya, Foah, Madaya, Az-Zabadni and Madamiyet Elsham.
IS is not included in the U.S. -Russia-brokered truce that went into effect this week.
Turkey is complaining because Syrian Kurdish fighters in the border town of Tel Abyad in Syria are still flying USA flags they had hoisted earlier.
But it added that to do so, the USA needs to ensure that rebel groups it supports do not violate the truce, Russian General Viktor Poznikhir told Russian state news agency TASS.
The Islamic State-affiliated Amaq news agency also reported the strike, blaming Russian Federation.
But Turkey views them as an offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, which has waged a decades-long insurgency in Turkey and is viewed as a terrorist group by Turkey and the U.S.
“As of the third day (of the truce), only the Syrian army is observing the regime of silence”. Nour el-Din el-Zinki group said in statement that their observation posts in the area have confirmed that government forces are still on the road. But a similar agreement unraveled earlier this year, and Russia’s intervention a year ago in support of Assad has given it critical leverage over the diplomatic process. -Russian agreement, de Mistura cited a lack of cooperation by President Bashar al-Assad’s regime.
Peskov says Russian Federation believes that “progress is happening although with certain hiccups”.
The United Nations urged Syria’s government Thursday to allow immediate aid deliveries to hunger-stricken civilians, after a fragile ceasefire was extended for 48 hours by Russian Federation and the United States.
The permits are needed for aid to reach most besieged areas in Syria, but not for the trucks waiting to cross the Turkish border and head to eastern Aleppo, the biggest flashpoint of recent fighting. “We can not let days of this reduction of violence be wasted by not moving forward”, he told reporters in Geneva.
In a meeting with US security aides, US President Barack Obama expressed his concern that despite the truce, the Syrian government continues to block the flow of humanitarian aide.
Earlier on Friday, Russia said that only Moscow and the Syrian government were fulfilling the deal.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says Friday’s fighting is concentrated in the neighborhood of Jobar, next to Qaboun. “The regime is refusing to allow aid into Aleppo”, said an activist based in the city, Baraa al-Halaby. It wasn’t known who carried out the airstrike.
Meanwhile, Russia’s deputy foreign minister said the future of Assad is an internal Syrian issue and the US-Russia agreement does not deal with it.
He added that while the reduction in violence since Monday had been substantial, expecting a “cessation of hostilities” was perhaps ambitious after a war of five years.
The UN said 20 trucks loaded with aid had crossed into a buffer zone between Turkey and Syria, voicing hope the supplies could be delivered to besieged rebel-held districts of Aleppo on Friday.
Senior Russian officer Vladimir Savchenko said Friday that government troops have returned to the Castello Road after aborting a pullback because rebels were not withdrawing as agreed. The council was to hold closed consultations later Friday.
“Today the withdrawal is supposed to happen, with aid entering tomorrow”.
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Russia’s military announced on Thursday evening that the Syrian military was beginning to withdraw from a contested route to Aleppo, suggesting a breakthrough to the deadlock could be coming.
