Syria cease-fire holding, with only minor violations

Syrian opposition activists and monitoring groups say the cease-fire in Syria appears to be holding since coming into effect the previous night, despite sporadic and minor violations.

“Commenting on the Turkish regime’s statements highlighting its intention to send materials disguised as humanitarian aid to Aleppo city, the Syrian Arab Republic announces its rejection to allow such materials to enter no matter who provides them… without co-ordination with the Syrian government and the United Nations”, the Foreign Ministry said. Aleppo-based activist Baraa al-Halaby said no aid deliveries, which are also part of the cease-fire deal, had yet entered the contested area.

The ceasefire is part of a broader peace plan agreed by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and his United States counterpart, John Kerry, last Friday in Geneva.

The development comes shortly after talks between U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

The Syrian army has said the truce will be applied throughout Syria for seven days, but that it reserves the right to respond decisively to any violation by armed groups.

The cease-fire does not apply to the terror groups Islamic State or Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, previously known as Jabhat al-Nusra until it broke from al-Qaida and changed its name.

After the “cessation of hostilities”, which will begin on the Muslim holiday Eid on Monday, the USA and Russian Federation will cooperate in a Joint Intelligence Group to go after the Nusra Front, which recently claimed to have broken from al-Qaida, renaming itself Jabhat Fateh al-Sham in a last-ditch effort to stave off joint U.S.

The Syrian civil war has killed hundreds of thousands of people and forced more than 5 million to flee the country, spawning an global refugee crisis.

An initial 48-hour truce came into force at 7:00 pm local time (1600 GMT) across Syria except in areas held by jihadists such as the Islamic State group.

Armed groups fighting against the Syrian government have already violated the ceasefire in cities of Aleppo, Idlib and Hama just after the truce took effect. Russian Federation is a major backer of President Bashar al-Assad, while the United States supports some of the rebel groups fighting to topple him. If the ceasefire holds for a week, then the USA will open a joint operations center with Russian Federation meant to target the Islamic State and al-Qaida elements in Syria. Such a move would take away one of President’s Assad’s justifications for targeting the rebel forces.

Lavrov also emphasized that the Syrian Air Force will still be able to conduct raids in certain agreed-upon areas.

The deal’s architects hope the cease-fire will pave the way for an extended period of restraint that can serve as the foundation for peace talks.

Turkey on Tuesday urged the Syrian parties to respect the cease-fire that went effect late on Monday.

The UN envoy for Syria on Tuesday applauded the “significant drop in violence”, more than 24 hours after the declaration of the US-Russia brokered truce deal.

The Russian military said US -backed rebels have repeatedly violated the cease-fire, with six people killed and 10 wounded in Aleppo since the truce began.

In the northern city of Aleppo, where the fighting has concentrated over the past few months, opposition activists said rebel-held parts of the city were calm on Tuesday morning but many people were still hunkering down in their homes, fearful of going out.

The group says the real death toll could be 70,000 higher since many insurgent groups don’t announce their deaths and because there are other deaths that are not documented.

The Observatory estimates the death toll since the start of the conflict at around 430,000, in line with United Nations estimates. The package of five agreements approved last Friday in Geneva to help a solution to the crisis in the context of counter-terrorism against extremist groups, strengthening the ceasefire regime and the provision of humanitarian aid, he said.

The Syrian military says its forces have shot down two Israeli aircraft – a warplane and a drone – near the Israeli-controlled part of the Golan Heights.

Fighting had raged on several key fronts before the truce, including Aleppo and the southern province of Quneitra on Monday, the first day of the Eid al-Adha Muslim holiday.