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Ceasefire deal | Syrian government ‘approves’ US-Russia truce deal: state media

The Secretary of State clarified that the ceasefire involves any military activity, including air strikes, following the success of the Syrian army’s offensive, with the support of the Russian aviation.

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The group vowed to repel any attack its members are subjected to during the truce.

There has been no official reaction from Iran which, like Russian Federation, is allied to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

“If implemented, the arrangement negotiated by Secretary Kerry could achieve a sustained cessation of hostilities, help ease the suffering of the Syrian people and address the immediate humanitarian catastrophe in Aleppo”, the Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook said.

The United States and Russian Federation hailed a breakthrough deal on Saturday to put Syria’s peace process back on track, including a nationwide ceasefire effective from sundown on Monday, improved aid access and joint targeting of banned Islamist militant groups.

It also promises improved humanitarian aid access and joint military targeting of banned Islamist groups.

The deadliest strikes were in Idlib, capital of the province of the same name, where they targeted a market, leaving 58 civilians including 13 children dead, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Idlib province has endured escalating strikes by Russian planes in recent months, according to global aid workers and residents, destroying scores of hospitals, bakeries and other infrastructure across rebel-held territory.

Aleppo was also hit from the air and fighting continued on the ground.

The HNC’s Kodmani said the rebels would break ranks with the jihadists if the truce held.

The aftermath of a purported Assad-regime airstrike on the rebel-held city of Idlib on Saturday.

The ceasefire must hold for seven consecutive days before the USA and Russian Federation will start coordinating any attacks against fighters affiliated with al-Qaeda in Syria or the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS), the letter said.

“The factions welcome a ceasefire and welcome the incoming of aid, but have reservations about some points. what are the sanctions if the regime doesn’t abide by it?” said Zakaria Malahifji of the Aleppo-based rebel group Fastaqim.

State news agency SANA said the Syrian government accepts the agreement, adding that hostilities will stop in the northern city of Aleppo, the country’s largest, for “humanitarian reasons”.

Unless rebel groups that now cooperate with Nusra militants immediately end that cooperation, they will become legitimate targets in the eyes of the U.S.

Still, the fact that what everyone believes to have been Russian planes bombed a marketplace in northwestern Syria hours after the landmark U.S. -Russia deal was reached didn’t seem to be the biggest symbol of goodwill.

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Nusra shelling of the government-held half of Aleppo killed at least 10 more civilians, according to reports, and five others were killed in fighting around Damascus.

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