Airstrikes killed at least 90 people in northwestern Syria on Saturday and Sunday, hours after the U.S. and Russian Federation announced a new ceasefire plan, a rights group said.
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An air strike on a market in Idlib killed up to 60 people while at least 45 died in strikes on Aleppo province, opposition activists say.
Ahmad Saoud, head of the US-backed Division 13 rebel group, wrote on Twitter he was “starting to feel that the truce is a military trap to kill us even more”.
On Sunday, Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister for Arab and African Affairs Hossein Jaberi Ansari said that Tehran welcomes the cease-fire in Syria and the peace plan to stop deterioration of humanitarian situation. On Sunday, a rebel official said insurgent factions would later issue a statement guardedly welcoming the ceasefire but expressing concern over what they see as a lack of agreed sanctions on the government if it breaks the deal.
There was no official reaction from Iran which, like Russian Federation, is allied to the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Hezbollah has sent thousands of fighters to Syria to back President Bashar Assad’s forces.
The U.S. on Saturday warned insurgents they would face “dire consequences” if they cooperate with Jabhet Fateh al-Sham, which fought alongside a range of mainstream and Islamist rebel groups during intense battles in recent weeks in southern Aleppo.
Saturday’s air raids were mostly in the northern provinces of Idlib and Aleppo. It is also full of potential pitfalls and leaves Moscow with far more power than Washington to determine if there can be lasting peace.
But there is scepticism about its chances.
The official, noting that analysis and criticism of the conditions was quickly “going a little bit sideways” on social media, emphasized “you’re not going to see calm in Syria anytime soon”. Al-Assad and his henchmen have been starving rebel groups out and forcing them to relocate.
“We are waiting for Russian Federation to persuade the regime that it is necessary to commit to this agreement”, she told AFP.
The war in Syria is made up of layers of conflict, which connect up to regional and global rivalries. This makes it hard to gauge whether the Syrian government will hold up its part of the deal.
Both sides appear to be trying to maximise gains before the cessation of hostilities begins at sundown on Monday, which is the start of the Muslim Eid al Adha holiday.
Al-Assad’s government has endorsed the plan, while the opposition has voiced doubts on whether the new ceasefire will hold.
In an unexpected development, Russian Federation and the U.S. will then establish a joint centre to combat jihadist groups.
The Russia-US agreement came as Turkey presses on with its Operation Euphrates Shield in Syria, which is aimed at pushing both Islamic State (IS) jihadists and Kurdish militia out of the Syrian border area.
The monitor confirmed reports by residents and activists in rebel-held eastern Aleppo who said Syrian army helicopters dropped barrel bombs on residential civilian areas in several districts.
“The agreement.is very welcome”, said Ms Mogherini, stressing that a United Nations proposal for a political transition would be “the starting point for resumption of the intra-Syrian talks”.
The military deal would go into effect after both sides abide by the truce for a week and allow unimpeded humanitarian deliveries.
February 2016: World powers agree in Munich on a nationwide “cessation of hostilities” in Syria excluding jihadist groups.
Underlying the entire process is US-Russian mistrust.
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“Very big questions remain surrounding how exactly the US and Russian Federation plan to determine areas where the opposition is sufficiently distant from Jabhat Fatah al-Sham and where they are in fact too close and thus legitimate counter-terrorism targets”, said Charles Lister a Middle East Institute fellow who has written a book on jihadist dynamics in the Syria conflict.
