A nationwide ceasefire in Syria brokered by the United States and Russian Federation came into effect on Monday evening as aid agencies prepared to send food and medical supplies to the besieged city of Aleppo.
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The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said major conflict zones in Syria were calm after a ceasefire took effect but there was some shelling by both the regime forces and the opposition.
A main Syrian opposition group linked to several small, moderate rebel factions says they will deal “positively” with the truce brokered by the US and Russian Federation.
The Syrian army announced Monday that it has begun implementing the new, nationwide cease-fire brokered by the United States and Russia, which calls on USA -backed rebels and Russian-backed regime forces to cease all hostilities.
Such intensification of violence has occurred before other, aborted, ceasefires in Syria.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says 18 militants were killed fighting government forces in the push in the south.
The ceasefire is due to take effect at sundown, and includes improved humanitarian aid access and joint US and Russian targeting of hardline Islamists.
“We are asking for guarantees especially from the United States, which is a party to the agreement”, Salem al-Muslet from the High Negotiations Committee, the main opposition umbrella group, told AFP Monday.
The cease-fire marks the latest attempt to end the five-year Syrian conflict, which has killed more than 250,000 people and driven some 11 million from their homes.
Assad spoke in the now-deserted city of Daraya after the government retook control from the rebels.
He made no mention of the ceasefire agreement, but said the army would continue its work “without hesitation, regardless of any internal or external circumstances”.
“We hope there will be a ceasefire so that civilians can get a break”, said east Aleppo resident Abu Abdullah.
The largest rebel group in Syria stated unequivocally Sunday it would not cooperate with the ceasefire agreement.
Meanwhile, the influential and ultra-conservative Ahrar al Sham group warned in a video: “A rebellious people who have fought and suffered for six years can not accept half-solutions”.
But maintaining the ceasefire means overcoming big challenges, including separating nationalist rebels who would be protected under it from jihadist fighters who are excluded.
But their statement, released hours after the cease-fire took effect Monday, denounced the “unjust agreement” between Washington and Moscow to target the al Qaeda-linked Jabhat Fatah al-Sham group.
Pro-government news organizations reported, however, that the government would not accept all of the cease-fire’s terms, including a requirement that pro-Assad forces retreat from a key road into Aleppo that was seized from the rebels almost two months ago.
A representative of a Free Syrian Army (FSA) group called Fastaqim Union tells CNN the group sent a message to the United States expressing several “reservations” over the deal, which is to coincide with the start of the Eid al-Adha festival.
The deal, announced last week by the USA and Russian foreign ministers, calls for a halt to fighting between the US -backed opposition and Russian-supported Syrian government. Opposition fighters are expected to separate from militant groups in areas such as Aleppo. These include Islamic State and al Qaeda’s former Syria branch, known as the Nusra Front until it changed its name and cut ties to al Qaeda in July.
The group, which now calls itself Jabhet Fateh al-Sham, has been playing a vital role in the battle for Aleppo allied with other rebel factions.
A wounded Syrian boy rests after receiving medical treatment at a makeshift hospital following reported government air strikes on the rebel-held town of Douma, east of the capital Damascus on September 9, 2016.
Russian Federation had long complained that US -backed rebels forces are aligned with the Nusra Front, an al-Qaeda linked group.
Meanwhile the Russian Foreign Ministry said it was concerned that some armed opposition groups, including the powerful insurgent group Ahrar al-Sham, are refusing to abide by the ceasefire.
“The market was full of shoppers going to buy presents for their kids, they were all civilians”, said Salem Idlibi, a civil defence worker.
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The Aleppo Media Center said it knows of five attacks that happened after the agreed upon deadline of sunset Monday for a reduction of violence.
