The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said major conflict zones in Syria were calm after the ceasefire took effect.
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The Obama administration opposes Assad but wants to shift the focus of fighting from the multi-sided civil war between Assad and his many foes to a campaign against Islamic State, an ultra-hardline jihadist group that controls swathes of Syria and neighbouring Iraq.
But Kerry said Monday that Assad would still be allowed to target Nusra after that point if strikes “are agreed upon with Russian Federation and the United States”.
He appeared cautiously optimistic after the ceasefire began, however.
Kerry said that “earliest reports” that he had received two hours after the truce came into effect at 1600 GMT suggested there had been “some reduction” in violence.
“There is going to be cooperation and coordination with Russian Federation, ” he said. The government has made no comment on the agreement, but Syrian state media quoted what it called private sources as saying the government had given its approval.
Kerry said humanitarian assistance needed to urgently start flowing, including in all areas of Aleppo.
The U.S. had never previously spoken of approving military operations by Assad. In follow-up remarks, however, Ghassemi noted a variety of concerns that had plagued previous attempts to implement cease-fires.
“Assad is not supposed to be bombing the opposition, because there is a cease-fire”, Kerry told journalists at the State Department.
Pro-government news organisations reported, however, that the Government would not accept all of the ceasefire’s terms, including a requirement that pro-Assad forces retreat from a key road into Aleppo that was seized from the rebels almost two months ago.
This time will be different, Kerry promised. If it holds up for all seven days, then the USA and Russian Federation will cooperate in bombing ISIS and Al-Qaeda’s Syrian affiliate.
Ahmad al-Saoud, who heads the US-backed Division 13 rebel group which signed the letter, said they had received no response.
State Department spokesman John Kirby said the USA wouldn’t co-operate with Assad. “I mean, nobody is saying for a moment that this isn’t going to be hard”.
The visit by Assad to the suburb, Daraya, which had always been held by armed opposition fighters who want him deposed, was prominently reported by state television and other government media.
“Everyone is prepared for rapidly implementing this agreement if it crosses that threshold, but we are also ready to walk away if it doesn’t hold”, a United States defense official told Agence France-Presse.
“I have no reason to be very optimistic that this [truce] will hold”.
“We come today here to replace the fake freedom they tried to market at the beginning of the crisis. with real freedom”, he added. If it holds for seven days, the United States and Russian Federation will set up a Joint Implementation Center (JIC) to share intelligence to coordinate strikes on terrorist groups such as the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and the group formerly known as al Nusra.
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A final rocket was sacked from the east into government areas just five minutes before 7:00 pm, while rebel neighbourhoods had not been hit by bombardments for about two hours, they said. Russian officials have denied that their warplanes have been responsible for a single civilian casualty in almost a year of airstrikes; the monitoring group Airwars.org estimates the number at more than 3,000.
