The United Nations Security Council votes to approve a resolution endorsing the planned halt in fighting in Syria at the United Nations Headquarters in New York February 26, 2016.
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Syrian president Bashar al-Assad on Tuesday vowed to adhere to the cessation of hostilities and grant amnesty to army deserters who relinquished their weapons while his army, backed by Russian air power and Iranian ground units, continued to implement a military strategy set by Syrian, Russian and Iranian commanders.
France said there were reports of attacks on opposition forces in breach of the deal, which came into force on Saturday, and countries backing the Syrian peace process met to try to clarify the situation.
“We have refrained ourselves from retaliating in order to give (a) chance for the agreement to survive”.
The Observatory and other opposition activists also said five people were killed and more than 15 wounded when rockets slammed into two villages in the rebel-held northern province of Idlib.
“We don’t want discussions in Geneva to become a discussion about infringements or not of the ceasefire, we want them to actually address the core of everything”.
Russian monitors Sunday said they have recorded nine violations of the truce, attributing most to the rebels.
“There is no place for terrorists and extremists” in the ceasefire agreement or a political settlement, Lavrov said.
It is hoped it will allow actual peace talks to resume and enable aid trucks to reach besieged communities.
De Mistura expected to see attempts to disrupt the ceasefire, saying these needed to be contained to avoid them spreading and undermining the credibility of the truce.
De Mistura wants the Syrian sides to focus on constitutional reform, governance, and hopes elections can be held in 18 months.
He said Russian Federation has delivered around 580 tons of food aid to government-held areas in recent weeks.
The Russians blamed the shelling on the Islamic State group and the Nusra Front, al-Qaida’s Syrian branch.
It said the NF and IS groups have been attacking government positions and residential areas from territory controlled by the Syrian opposition. The U.S. State Department, however, said it had not received any reports of “significant” violations.
A major issue here is that Russia’s military, which is aligned with the Syrian regime, has repeatedly said it is hitting “terrorist” targets even though moderate rebel forces claim they’re the ones being targeted.
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Also Monday, the World Food Programme said it has raised enough funds to fully reinstate its food assistance operations to Syria.
