Confusion over cease-fire as US walks back Kerry comments

With major defeats from Turkey-backed rebels and US -backed Kurdish forces in northern Syria, IS fighters have been looking for new areas of control.

He hailed the service in the town recently liberated from extremists as a symbolic act of defiance against the foreign forces attacking the country.

In a letter to the USA, the Free Syrian Army said it planned to “co-operate positively” and respect the ceasefire, but wrote that a lack of enforcement mechanisms and a lack of provision for some of the country’s most besieged areas were worrying.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu fired back Monday, saying “that the worldwide order mustn’t be mistaken with the American order” and that “maintaining the global order is the prerogative of the entire worldwide community, not only the Pentagon”.

US Department of State John Kirby later said he was unaware if any groups in Syria had refused to abide by the deal, although he had seen reports that the opposition faction Ahrar al-Sham rejected calls to adhere to the cessation of hostilities.

While the statement did not explicitly back the ceasefire, rebel sources said the groups were abiding by it. “But that will be on strikes that are agreed upon with Russian Federation and the United States in order to go after them”.

The United States has long said that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s air force should be grounded, but in recent weeks appeared to back away from that call saying Assad’s forces could strike in areas where al-Qaeda-linked groups and Islamic State operated and where the opposition groups were not present.

“To clarify: The arrangement announced last week makes no provision whatsoever for the United States and Russian Federation to approve strikes by the Syrian regime, and this is not something we could ever envision doing”, Kirby said.

This would prevent government forces from bombing civilians or opposition groups while claiming they were targeting militant groups, Kerry added.

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.

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”.

“There is no balance in the agreement”, said Col. Ahmad Hamada, an army defector who is now with the rebel group known as the Northern Division.

Russia’s deputy foreign minister says peace talks to end Syria’s five-year civil war could be resumed next month. If the regimes observe their promises in this case, it may be because the time to exploit this US administration – which has retreated from its red lines, allowed Russian Federation to restore itself as a Middle East power and betrayed those Syrians who hoped to rid themselves of a blood-drenched dictator – is finally running out.

Various militants backed by the USA and its Arab allies coordinate and even sometimes fight alongside al-Qaida-linked militants.

The Local Coordination Committees monitoring group reported airstrikes on the Aleppo neighborhoods and suburbs of Rashiddine, Salihine, and Jazmata. Hours after it came into force, a coalition of rebel factions put out a statement that stopped short of committing to the cease-fire, a reflection of their distrust of the government.

Syrian pro-regime fighters walk in a bombed-out steet in Ramussa on September 9, 2016, after they took control of the strategically important district on the outskirts of the Syrian city of Aleppo yesterday.

Ankara’s incursion last month into northern Syria has helped Syrian rebels retake Jarablus from the Islamic State group.

US Secretary of State John Kerry urged all the parties to the cessation of hostilities – including a skeptical Syrian opposition – to support the truce deal that would eventually see the United States and Russian Federation coordinating on the targeting of al-Qaeda’s Syria affiliate, Jabhat Fatah al-Sham (formerly known as Jabhat al-Nusra).

The deal’s fragility was underscored even before it took effect when President Bashar al-Assad vowed to retake all of Syria from “terrorists”.

Earlier he performed Muslim holiday prayers alongside other officials in a bare hall in a Daraya mosque.

However, the al-Qaida linked insurgents are closely allied to many rebel factions and are a powerful force in the defense of Aleppo in particular.