Unidentified jets bombarded the market in the rebel-held city on Saturday hours after the United States and Russian Federation announced a ceasefire agreement for Syria, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights added. Assad appeared in a symbolic neighborhood Monday and vowed to “retake every inch of Syria”. The government has sought similar deals in other besieged areas.
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But Syria’s opposition is deeply sceptical that Assad’s regime will abide by the agreement and on Monday demanded guarantees before endorsing the deal.
– An initial 48-hour ceasefire is set to begin at 7:00 pm local time (1600 GMT) on Monday and, if successful, can be renewed for another 48 hours at a time, Lavrov said.
Their People’s Protection Units (YPG) have become a key partner of the US-led coalition fighting IS as part of the Kurdish-Arab Syrian Democratic Forces.
He said there had however been some shelling by both rebel and government forces in the southwest of the country.
State news agency SANA reported on Saturday that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s government “approved the agreement” for a truce.
At that time, according to the deal announced by the United States and Russian Federation, both the Syrian government and rebels are supposed to stop fighting each other.
Given that the deal doesn’t address any final status questions about the political future of Syria, as well as signs that numerous players in the conflict are now essentially waiting out the clock on the Obama administration to see how they may fare under the next president, there’s little reason to expect the ceasefire to hold for long. The Syrian leader performed Muslim holiday prayers alongside other officials in a bare hall in a Daraya mosque.
Russia’s foreign ministry said it was concerned that some opposition groups including the powerful Ahrar al-Sham, which fights in close coordination with Jabhat Fatah al-Sham, had refused to respect the ceasefire.
Russian Federation said this evening the truce would cover the entire country but Moscow would continue to strike “terrorist targets”.
“I think that probably at the very beginning of October, [UN envoy Staffan] de Mistura should be inviting all parties” to talks, he said. US Secretary of State John Kerry flew into Geneva for crunch talks with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov, with Washington warning talks could not go on forever without a breakthrough.
Fighting raged on several key frontlines on Monday, including Aleppo and the southern province of Quneitra.
In August, rebel forces broke a weeks-long government siege on the east of the city, but regime troops restored the blockade on September 8.
“Today after sunset, whether it is the United Nations or our Red Crescent, they will send food, toys and clothing to the people, mainly in Aleppo, through the predetermined corridors”, Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, told reporters.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said major conflict zones in Syria were calm after the ceasefire took effect.
Erdogan said Turkey’s Red Crescent, along with the country’s disaster and emergency management agency, will try to deliver aid to the northern Syrian towns of al-Rai and Jarablus.
The Islamic State group and the Fateh al-Sham Front are excluded from the ceasefire agreement.
Turkey launched an offensive into Syria last month against IS and the YPG, which Ankara regards as the Syrian branch of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) that has waged a 32-year insurrection inside Turkey.
Syria’s main opposition group the High Negotiations Committee-grouping political dissidents as well as armed rebel faction-had yet to formally respond.
“The movement has not taken a position on the deal and will announce its position in a clear statement in consultation with other factions”, he said.
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In a gesture loaded with symbolism, state television showed Assad visiting Daraya, a Damascus suburb long held by rebels but recaptured last month after fighters there surrendered in the face of a crushing siege.
