Syrian army recaptures town in Aleppo province from IS group

Dmitry Peskov, the spokesman for Putin, told Tass, that “meticulous” work was needed to hold the deal in place. Kerry on Tuesday said that the war can not stop in Syria as long as President Bashar Assad was in power. He did not elaborate.

Speaking in a conference call with journalists, he said Moscow was doing its part and is expecting the United States to also do its part to make sure the groups they support adhere to the cease-fire.

Asked whether Moscow had a Plan B in case the truce did not hold, he replied: “We are concentrating on Plan A right now…it’s too early to speak of other plans”. Kurdish officials have called for the group to be added to those excluded from the truce agreement.

However, Putin and Assad emphasised the need to continue an “uncompromised fight” against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant group, the al-Nusra Front and other groups “which are included in the respective list of the United Nations Security Council”, the Kremlin said.

Saudi Arabia’s King Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud “welcomed the achieved agreements and expressed readiness for mutual work with Russian Federation to realise them”, the Kremlin said in the statement.

A Syrian shopkeeper waits for customers next to paintings of of President Bashar Assad, and Hezbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, center, at the popular Souk Tawil old market in Damascus, Syria, Wednesday, Feb. 24, 2016. Ru…

Russia’s Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov made the request in a statement released on Wednesday.

He said cease-fire declarations already have been signed by the government and opposition representatives in several areas in the provinces of Homs and Latakia.

The agreement, engineered by the USA and Russian Federation, is set to take effect at midnight Friday local time. “We want to say frankly that these voices are a call for war rather than for peace”. He said the opposition will not stop fighting if Assad does not leave office.

“The Americans are taking note of our concerns and we are waiting for their replies”, Al Meslet said.

The rebels’ main regional backers, Turkey and Saudi Arabia, are distracted with their own internal troubles.

Syria’s president has assured Russian Federation of his readiness to respect a ceasefire deal brokered by Moscow and Washington, the Kremlin said.

A U.N. air-drop of food to 200,000 people in the besieged city of Deir al-Zor failed on Wednesday, with all 21 palettes dropped by parachute either damaged, landing in no-man’s land or unaccounted for, a U.N. World Food Programme spokeswoman said.

The U.S.is hoping that a cessation of hostilities would reduce the violence in Syria enough to bring the two sides back to the negotiating table in Geneva to discuss a roadmap for a political transition that was unanimously adopted by the U.N. Security Council in December.

United Nations Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura said he would announce on Friday a date for a new round of talks between Syria’s warring parties.

The truce agreement, announced on Monday, does not apply to hardline religious groups like the Islamic State (IS) and al-Nusra Front, putting up major hurdles to how it can be implemented on Syria’s complex battlefield.

Their remarks come after Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov accused the United States and its allies of trying to undermine the deal by suggesting Russia may not keep its word.

Under the terms of the agreement, Russian Federation (whose warplanes have also targeted Syrian opposition groups) will halt those airstrikes.

He warned that, “if necessary”, Turkey would continue shelling Kurdish groups in Syria, which it says are aligned with its outlawed Kurdish Worker’s Party. “The U.S. has informed us and has received our opinion”.

The YPG is an important partner in the U.S-led coalition fighting Islamic State in Syria, but has also been fighting Syrian insurgent groups in northwestern Syria near Aleppo, and is considered an enemy by North Atlantic Treaty Organisation member Turkey.

A recent attack destroyed the main land route to the city, and there are reports the nearby town of Khanaser has fallen to IS.