“We just announced a short time ago, as part of urgent efforts to try to de-escalate the violence in Syria and reaffirm the cessation of hostilities which is critical, that the United States and Russian Federation have now concluded arrangements with our teams, late yesterday evening, to reaffirm the cessation of hostilities in Aleppo province, including Aleppo city and its surrounding areas”.
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Intense fighting between the Syrian government forces and the opposition erupted over the past days in Aleppo, despite continued diplomatic efforts to restore the ceasefire agreement reached in February.
The U.N. Security Council due to meet later Wednesday to discuss the escalation.
Kerry condemned a hospital attack in the city that killed at least 20 people on Tuesday and said the missile appeared to have been fired from rebel-controlled territory.
Aid agencies say Aleppo is on the brink of humanitarian disaster.
“We expect all the parties to the cessation of hostilities to fully abide by the renewed cessation in Aleppo”, Kerry said.
Russian Federation has been helping the Syrian government by mounting airstrikes to combat rebel and opposition groups, while the United States is helping with troops and training for moderate rebels and is also participating in an airstrike campaign with its own aircraft.
I do not think the strikes will stop, because the decision to stop is not in the hands of (President Bashar al-Assad, ) but in those of his Russian ally.
Despite the truce, three people were killed in sporadic fighting.
Aleppo has seen fierce fighting between the warring sides in the past two weeks after government forces began targeting the city. But Kurdish forces said the besieged, predominantly Kurdish neighborhood of Sheikh Maqsoud appeared to be excluded, saying that opposition forces shelled the district Wednesday evening, killing one person and wounding five.
“Our objective remains, and has always been, a single nationwide cessation of hostilities covering all of Syria – not a series of local truces”, the statement said.
A statement issued by Salem al-Meslet, spokesman for the opposition High Negotiations Committee, said that they remained committed to political negotiations to end Syria’s civil war.
A pro-government military strategist said the offensive failed to breach key army defence and supply lines in Aleppo.
The United Nations special envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura estimates that over 400,000 people have been killed in the conflict, which has also displaced over half of the Arab country’s pre-war population of about 23 million.
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The rebel ground assault in west Aleppo, which started late Tuesday, was mounted by fighters from al-Qaida affiliate Jabhat al-Nusra, as well as Western-favored Free Syrian Army militias and the Islamist group Jaysh Al-Mujahideen.
