“We won’t accept any kind of. regional ceasefires”, a statement from a number of groups including Jaysh al-Islam, which controls areas east of Damascus, said.
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Russian news agencies quoted an opposition figure saying the new truce would also apply to Aleppo, but there was no separate confirmation of this.
Damascus described the truces as an attempt to salvage a wider “cessation of hostilities” agreement.
A new round of UN-backed peace talks is due to begin on 10 May in Geneva after the last round ended with no progress.
Peace talks last month in Geneva failed to make any headway, though De Mistura has said he hopes they can resume “during the course of May”.
Announcing the recommitment to a cessation of hostilities in northern Latakia and Eastern Ghouta on Friday, the United States special envoy for Syria Michael Ratney called the continued violence in Aleppo “unacceptable”.
“We are in touch with the opposition and it is our expectation they will comply”, State Department spokesman Mark Toner said of the Latakia and Ghouta ceasefires.
Mr Kirby said diplomatic pressure was being put on Russian Federation to stop regime violations, especially its indiscriminate aerial attacks on Aleppo. The statement made no mention however of the city of Aleppo, scene of the worst violence, which is divided between rebel-held and government areas. About 250 people have been killed since April 22.
Since Russia joined the war a year ago with air strikes against Assad’s enemies, battlefield momentum has shifted in the government’s favor.
Syrian civil defence volunteers evacuate a man and children from a residential building following a reported air strike on the rebel-held eastern neighbourhood of Bab al-Nayrab in Syrias second city Aleppo, on April 29, 2016. Aleppo has been under partial rebel control since 2012. This time however, it appears pro-government forces have put themselves in a better position to take the city by deploying additional troops and Russian artillery to the area.
Assad’s fate must, therefore, be discussed at the end of the reformation period in the country, rather than at its beginning, especially that he now accepts to hold early presidential elections under United Nations auspices. They included a dialysis center and a cardiac hospital.
The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said on its Twitter account Saturday that the aid delivery in the four areas will be large enough to serve 61,000 people. “Even in hospitals”, she said.
In Damascus, ICRC spokesman Pawel Krzysiek said that despite the hard situation in Aleppo, which hinders humanitarian operations in the city, aid deliveries elsewhere continued.
“People keep dying in these attacks”. The committee appealed to all parties in the conflict “for an immediate halt in the attacks”.
The escalating violence in Aleppo has also hit medical centres.
This figure included around 140 people killed by government-aligned forces in air strikes and shellings of rebel-held areas, including 19 children, it said.
One U.S. official said “hard lines” would delineate specific areas and neighborhoods.
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A Syrian regime raid on Wednesday hit a hospital supported by Doctors Without Borders and the Red Cross as well as nearby housing, killing 30 people.
