The United States and Russian Federation, backing opposing sides in the war, announced a deal in the early hours of Saturday including a nationwide ceasefire effective from sundown on Monday, improved aid access and joint targeting of banned militant Islamist groups.
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People living in southern Aleppo seem to have little optimism for a new ceasefire deal brokered by Russian Federation and the United States overnight, RT’s correspondent Lizzie Phelan found out after talking to residents in the neighborhood.
Syria’s state news agency SANA said that the Geneva agreement had been reached “with full knowledge” of the Syrian government, which has approved it.
In turn, Washington must get opposition groups it backs to separate themselves from the former Al-Nusra, now called Fateh al-Sham Front, which has allied itself with a range of rebels at different points in the fluid conflict.
– In the Ramussa area south of Aleppo, “both pro-government and opposition groups will be required to provide safe, unhindered, and sustainable humanitarian, commercial, and civilian access to eastern and western Aleppo”, which is roughly divided into opposition control in the east and regime control in the west.
Syrian media reported that rebels opposed to the Assad government also launched their own offensive in the south of the country.
Rebels have been fighting side-by-side with the al-Qaida-linked Jaysh Fatah al-Sham around the northern city of Aleppo as they try to break a government siege on the city’s opposition-held quarters.
The ministry says Turkey will deliver aid through the United Nations to the Syrian city of Aleppo, which has seen heavy fighting in recent months.
Saturday’s air raids were mostly in the northern provinces of Idlib and Aleppo.
The worst strikes were in Idlib city, the capital of the province of the same name, where they hit a market, killing 55 civilians.
But even as diplomats touted the agreement as a path to peace, a barrage of air strikes on two major cities in the north killed dozens.
Later, the truce collapsed under pressure from localized fighting and a failed UN-backed political process to end the violence.
Syria has been gripped by civil war since March 2011 with various terrorist groups, including Daesh (also known as ISIS or ISIL), now controlling parts of it. He said there were at least 30 casualties, including two dead.
Civil defense members carry an injured civilian at a site hit by airstrikes in the rebel held area of Aleppo’s al-Fardous district, Syria, April 29, 2016.
“We are waiting for Russian Federation to persuade the regime that is necessary to commit to this agreement” she added. “It requires unimpeded and sustained humanitarian access to all of the besieged and hard-to-reach areas, including Aleppo”, said US Secretary of State John Kerry.
The Syrian government has told Moscow it is prepared to comply with the deal, and opposition forces have also said they will fulfil the peace plan’s requirements if the government demonstrates it is serious about ending the bloodshed.
Both sides agreed not to release the documents publicly. “This is not a reflection of ideological affinity as much as it is merely a military necessity”, he said.
The Pentagon previously argued that the goal of Russians operations – bolstering the forces of Moscow’s ally President Bashar al-Assad – was at odds with its focus on defeating IS.
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“We have holy warriors who will burn the ground”, the official said.
