If the calm holds for seven days, the US and Russian militaries would then set up a new center to coordinate strikes against IS and the al-Qaida affiliate, previously known as the Nusra Front.
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Activists in Syria’s besieged Aleppo protest against the United Nations for what they say is its failure to lift the siege off their rebel-held area, Tuesday, Sept. 13, 2016. Groups linked to al Qaeda such as Jabhat Fatah al-Sham, which was previously known as the al-Nusra Front, have meanwhile denounced the agreement. Israel is denying Syrian government claims that its forces shot down a warplane and a drone near the Israeli-controlled part of the Golan Heights.
Outside the scope of the truce, Turkey said on Tuesday that air strikes by a USA -led coalition had killed three fighters from Islamic State.
The truce has been in effect for 24 hours and since this time the United Nations Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura relays that the situation has improved rapidly and notes that aid access should soon become available to several regions, including Aleppo, which is the portion of the city held by rebel forces and is under blockade.
Moscow and Washington have agreed to share targeting information for strikes against fighters from the jihadist group and the former Syrian branch of al Qaeda, the first time the Cold War foes have fought together since World War Two. Aleppo-based activist Baraa al-Halaby said no aid deliveries, which are also part of the cease-fire deal, have entered the contested area.
Under the terms of the agreement, the rebels and the Syrian government are expected to stop attacking one another. It also reported shelling near the Castello road, northwest of the city, and the Ramouseh area in the south – both main arteries leading to Aleppo.
Rami Abdurrahman from the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said there was “calm” in most of the country Tuesday, with minor violations in central Hama province.
In the northern city of Aleppo, where the fighting has concentrated over the past few months, opposition activists said rebel-held parts of the city were calm Tuesday morning but many people were still hunkering down in their homes, fearful of going out.
Around 20 trucks carrying aid crossed into northern Syria from the Turkish border town of Cilvegozu, some 40 km (25 miles) west of Aleppo, a Reuters witness said, although with security a concern it was not clear how far into Syria they would go. The U.N. will monitor the personnel, physically or remotely.
The deal’s architects hope the cease-fire will pave the way for an extended period of restraint that can serve as the foundation for peace talks.
The group has been in talks for weeks to merge with other insurgent groups so that it can market itself as a Syrian faction – a move that would anger the United States, which has urged Syrian rebels to distance themselves from al-Qaida-linked militants.
Russian Federation is pushing to make public the text of the cease-fire deal, but Lavrov told reporters on Tuesday that the US opposes such a move. “As I speak, that has not been the case”, Jens Laerke, spokesman for the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, said in Geneva.
“People feel a lot more safe today because there are no airstrikes”, he said.
By Tuesday afternoon, there were no signs aid had begun moving into those areas, including eastern Aleppo which is surrounded by government troops.
But that group has been playing a key role alongside other rebels in areas like Aleppo, so separating its fighters from those who are protected by the ceasefire may prove to be the most hard task of the coming days.
The group says the real death toll could be 70,000 higher since many insurgent groups don’t announce their deaths and because there are other deaths that are not documented. The Observatory estimates the death toll since the start of the conflict at abound 430,000, in line with United Nations estimates.
But there is still deep scepticism about whether the truce will last, with the opposition yet to officially sign on.
The Israeli military said “two surface-to-air missiles were launched from Syria after the mission overnight to target Syrian artillery positions” but that the safety of Israeli planes was not compromised.
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The deal is the latest in a succession of attempts to end the fighting in Syria.
