“The U.S. side and the Russian side are in direct communication around the clock now about the situation, particularly in Aleppo, and the objective of that round-the-clock communication is to. make sure that violations don’t occur”, State Department spokesman John Kirby told a briefing.
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“The. Jund al-Aqsa brigade is ideologically close to Daesh”, said Britain-based Syrian activist Asaad Kanjo, using the Arabic acronym for the Islamic State group, a top rival of al-Qaida in Syria.
“Those who are responsible will have to be brought to justice”, France’s foreign ministry spokesman said.
Russian Federation late on Friday announced the extension of the truce in Aleppo for 72 hours starting at midnight on Saturday.
The violence comes as the US and Russian Federation try to revive a cessation of hostilities announced in February that has been unraveling.
“Initial reports suggest the attacks were carried out by Syrian Government aircraft, but this remains to be verified”.
Nusra and Islamic State have both been designated terror groups by the United Nations and were not included in the “cessation of hostilities” deal brokered by Russian Federation and the U.S. that began in late February.
France is expressing the “strongest condemnation” of the air strikes on camps for displaced people in Syria that left at least 28 people dead, including women and children.
CONDEMNATION mounted Friday over deadly air strikes on a camp for displaced people in northern Syria as the regime denied involvement, while a fragile ceasefire held in the battleground city of Aleppo.
The Turkish-backed Jeish al-Fatah stormed the pro-government forces’ strongholds near Khan Touman village 15 km to the South of Aleppo, but the strong defense of the Syrian army and popular forces did not allow the terrorists to break through the army’s positions.
Meghan Garrity, deputy director of program for Turkey’s International Rescue Committee, which oversees relief efforts in northern Syria, says that the “killing of innocent people in a place where they had hoped to find safety is abhorrent”.
“It is far more likely they were deliberate and amount to a war crime”, he said.
Russian Federation on Friday urged strict observance of cease-fire in the war-ravaged Syrian city of Aleppo and an uncompromising struggle against terrorist groups that violate truce in Syria.
The Observatory said at least 43 insurgents and 30 pro-government fighters had died in the fighting.
A rebel source also said that despite intermittent firing across the city’s front lines, fighting had subsided and no army shelling of residential areas had been heard.
On Friday, the United Kingdom -based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights documented the deaths of 73 people at the hands of Jaish al-Fatah – an alliance of militant groups that includes Jabhat al-Nusra and Ahrar al-Sham.
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He said he was also alarmed about the situation in Syria’s Hama central prison, where detainees had taken control of a section of the prison and were holding some guards hostage.
