Under pressure from Russian Federation and the United States, the Syrian army agreed on Wednesday, May 4, to respect a two-day truce in the war-ravaged city of Aleppo.
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The United States and Russian Federation concluded arrangements for a cessation of violence in Aleppo and surrounding areas, according to a department statement.
“To ensure this continues in a sustainable way, we are coordinating closely with Russian Federation to finalize enhanced monitoring efforts of this renewed cessation”, he added.
Russian Federation and USA military officers were now holding “active consultations” with Syria’s government leadership and the “moderate opposition” on how to introduce a “regime of calm” in Aleppo as soon as possible, Konashenkov said.
But Kerry said he still hoped diplomatic efforts could restore a nationwide February 27 ceasefire to include Aleppo, which has felt the brunt of increased fighting in recent weeks.
Also Wednesday, two top UN officials met with the UN Security Council to urge for the Syrian government to be tried for war crimes.
According to media reports, at least three women were killed and 17 others wounded in a rebel rocket attack on a hospital in Aleppo.
“The current levels of violence in Aleppo in particular negatively impact the ability of the Syrian parties to engage in negotiations”, said Feltman, noting that the only way for peace in Syria is through a political solution. Despite this, the U.S. has repeatedly accused Assad of “violations” for military attacks on al-Qaeda.
He said “the test is Aleppo now”.
“Aleppo is burning”, Salem al-Meslet, spokesman for the opposition High Negotiations Committee, said in a statement Wednesday.
Concurrently, the “regime of silence” was extended in Damascus’ Eastern Ghouta and in the north of the Latakia province.
In Berlin, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier and French counterpart Jean-Marc Ayrault held talks with UN Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura.
Also Wednesday, the Islamic State group said it has advanced in the strategic Shaer gas fields in the central Homs province, overrunning 13 government checkpoints and capturing a Syrian soldier.
State TV said government troops repelled an overnight rebel attack on an Aleppo suburb controlled by the government.
Regime warplanes were hitting the advancing rebels, giving opposition-held areas of eastern areas a respite from air strikes, a correspondent in the city said.
In Geneva, a senior United Nations humanitarian official said the Syrian government was refusing UN demands to deliver aid to hundreds of thousands of civilians trapped by the fighting, including many in devastated Aleppo.
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Al Jazeera’s Rosiland Jordan, reporting from Washington DC, said that the announcement was delayed because “officials wanted to see how long it would take for the ceasefire to come into effect”.
