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Kerry: Syria truce ‘holding but fragile’ despite violence

“It is the only basis on which the global community can (proceed)”, Ayrault told reporters, adding he wanted Washington and Moscow to include the rest of the Syria support group into the ceasefire plan so that they could create a mechanism to monitor ceasefire violations.

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The Syrian military said in a statement Monday that “armed terrorist groups” repeatedly violated the cease-fire and took advantage of the truce to mobilize and arm themselves while attacking government-held areas. Syrian officials cited repeated ceasefire violations on behalf of US-backed rebels.

Acknowledging that the United Kingdom took part, the MoD said it would “not intentionally target Syrian military units”. Losses among Syrian government forces stand at 153 servicemen.

The announce comes after the Pentagon confirmed that coalition warplanes struck Syrian army positions while attempting to fight the “Islamic State” militant group operating in Syria.

He said the incident which involved the USA -led coalition fighting against Islamic State showed an “increase in support for terrorists by countries opposing Syria”, state media quoted him as saying.

“Coalition forces believed they were striking a Daesh fighting position”, the Pentagon said in a statement, referring to the militant group by its Arabic acronym.

The Russian air force has been carrying out strikes across Syria to bolster President Bashar al-Assad’s forces for almost a year, and the two militaries work in close coordination.

But President Bashar al-Assad described the airstrikes as “blatant American aggression”. The incident cast doubt on the fragile ceasefire between rebel groups and government forces, prompting a sharp rebuke from Russian Federation.

Syria’s military on Monday declared the seven-day initial period for a ceasefire brokered by the United States and Russian Federation over, without indicating whether the truce would reinstated. “We’re waiting to get the full download from our team that is meeting now with the Russians in Geneva”.

The seven-day ceasefire was supposed to end at midnight on Sunday, according to a Syrian army statement issued last week. As a result, 63 civilians were killed and 252 more were wounded.

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The French foreign minister reiterated that President Bashar Assad’s regime was to blame for ceasefire violations.

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