Airstrikes have killed dozens in rebel-held parts of Syria as the opposition considers whether to join a US and Russian truce deal due to take effect today.
Brokered after marathon talks by the Russian and US foreign ministers, the ceasefire has been billed as the best chance to end Syria’s five-year war.
Key regime ally Iran yesterday welcomed the plan and called for “comprehensive monitoring” of the truce, particularly along Syria’s volatile borders.
Photo: AFP
However, even as world powers threw their weight behind the agreement, a barrage of unidentified raids left scores dead in opposition territory in two key northern cities on Saturday.
At least 62 people — including 13 women and 13 children — were killed in heavy bombardment on Idlib, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said yesterday in a new toll.
The strikes hit several areas in the rebel-held city, including a market where shoppers were buying goods ahead of the first day of Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha.
Gareth Bayley, the UK’s special representative for Syria, called the attacks “barbaric.”
“Bring on the #SyriaCeasefire,” he tweeted yesterday.
Another 12 civilians were killed in unidentified strikes on several neighborhoods of Aleppo, and 18 people died in bombardment of other parts of Aleppo Province, the Observatory said.
“We hope there will be a ceasefire so that civilians can get a break. The shelling goes on night and day, there are targeted killings, besieged cities,” said Abu Abdullah, who lives in Aleppo’s rebel-held east.
“Civilians have no hope anymore,” he said.
State news agency SANA on Saturday reported that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s government “approved the agreement.”
Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Bahram Ghasemi backed the deal yesterday.
“The continuation and sustainability of a ceasefire relies on the creation of a comprehensive monitoring mechanism, in particular control of borders in order to stop the dispatch of fresh terrorists, as well as weapons and financial resources for the terrorists,” he said.
However, Syria’s main opposition group the High Negotiations Committee (HNC) had yet to formally respond.
Leading rebel figure Mohammad Alloush yesterday said the agreement was “still being studied.”
HNC member Bassma Kodmani on Saturday said that her group “cautiously welcomed” the deal, but was skeptical that Damascus would comply.
The agreement was reached after marathon talks by US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergei Lavrov in Geneva.
Airstrikes have killed dozens in rebel-held parts of Syria as the opposition considers whether to join a US and Russian truce deal due to take effect today.
Brokered after marathon talks by the Russian and US foreign ministers, the ceasefire has been billed as the best chance to end Syria’s five-year war.
Key regime ally Iran yesterday welcomed the plan and called for “comprehensive monitoring” of the truce, particularly along Syria’s volatile borders.
However, even as world powers threw their weight behind the agreement, a barrage of unidentified raids left scores dead in opposition territory in two key northern cities on Saturday.
At least 62 people — including 13 women and 13 children — were killed in heavy bombardment on Idlib, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said yesterday in a new toll.
The strikes hit several areas in the rebel-held city, including a market where shoppers were buying goods ahead of the first day of Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha.
Gareth Bayley, the UK’s special representative for Syria, called the attacks “barbaric.”
“Bring on the #SyriaCeasefire,” he tweeted yesterday.
Another 12 civilians were killed in unidentified strikes on several neighborhoods of Aleppo, and 18 people died in bombardment of other parts of Aleppo Province, the Observatory said.
“We hope there will be a ceasefire so that civilians can get a break. The shelling goes on night and day, there are targeted killings, besieged cities,” said Abu Abdullah, who lives in Aleppo’s rebel-held east.
“Civilians have no hope anymore,” he said.
State news agency SANA on Saturday reported that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s government “approved the agreement.”
Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Bahram Ghasemi backed the deal yesterday.
“The continuation and sustainability of a ceasefire relies on the creation of a comprehensive monitoring mechanism, in particular control of borders in order to stop the dispatch of fresh terrorists, as well as weapons and financial resources for the terrorists,” he said.
However, Syria’s main opposition group the High Negotiations Committee (HNC) had yet to formally respond.
Leading rebel figure Mohammad Alloush yesterday said the agreement was “still being studied.”
HNC member Bassma Kodmani on Saturday said that her group “cautiously welcomed” the deal, but was skeptical that Damascus would comply.
The agreement was reached after marathon talks by US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergei Lavrov in Geneva.
It would see fighting and indiscriminate air attacks halt across the country starting at sundown today for a period of 48 hours, which could then be renewed.
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