The agreement was reached after marathon talks by US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Geneva.
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Despite the announcement of a ceasefire plan, about 24 civilians were killed on Saturday in airstrikes on the city of Idlib.
Air strikes killed at least 50 people in rebel-held areas of Idlib and Aleppo on Saturday, just hours after Russian Federation and the USA announced a deal meant to put a stop to more than five years of fighting.
Now, the two powers are lining up in an unexpected new military partnership targeting IS and al-Qaida-linked militants, while trying to prod Assad and opposition groups to end a civil war that has killed up to 500,000 people and displaced millions.
Government airstrikes on Saturday hit near the northwestern city of Idlib, according to the website of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which tracks violence in the country.
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.
“We welcome the deal if it is going to be enforced”.
He called the deal a potential “turning point” in the conflict, if implemented by Syria’s Russian-backed government and US-supported rebel groups. Syria’s conflict, now in its sixth year, has continued despite several rounds of peace talks and global attempts to try to end the violence.
Beirut- While Syria’s opposition has cautiously dealt with the Russian-U.S. deal concerning a national ceasefire in Syria expected to start Sunday midnight, the regime of Bashar Assad attacked residential areas in Aleppo and Idlib, leaving more than 85 killed and injured civilians who were preparing to celebrate the Eid.
“The Syrian government has been informed of these arrangements and is ready to fulfill them”, Lavrov said at a news conference alongside Kerry after midnight.
Aleppo, a major battleground in Syria’s conflict, has seen intensified fighting between government forces and the opposition in recent months, worsening the humanitarian situation there. It was also the resurrection of proposed US-Russian joint military action against Jabhat Al Nusra – the group that was Al Qaeda’s official Syrian branch until late July, when it claimed to have severed ties and renamed itself Jabhat Fatah Al Sham.
-Russian agreement on a cease-fire for Syria, where it has been a key ally of President Bashar Assad during the five-year war that has resulted in as many as 500,000 deaths.
Earlier, Turkey and a key Syrian opposition group pledged on Saturday to support the complicated and partly-secret U.S. -Russia cease-fire deal.
A UN-backed truce in February faltered after each side accused the other of repeated violations. Under the agreement, fighting would be halted at sundown on 12 September.
“The Syrian government (is) accountable for this blatant breach of Israeli sovereignty, the IDF (Israel defence forces) will continue to act in order to safeguard Israel and its civilians”, it added.
In a letter to armed opposition groups seen by Reuters, Ratney urged them to abide by the U.S.
– The regime “will not fly combat missions anywhere where the opposition is present in an area that we have agreed on with very real specificity”, Mr Kerry said.
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If the truce holds from Monday, Russia and the United States will begin seven days of preparatory work to set up a “joint implementation center”, where they will share information to distinguish territory controlled by Nusra from that held by other rebel groups.
