ahlam1399
09-12-2016, 10:34 PM
ALEPPO: A ceasefire brokered by Russia and the United States took effect in Syria at sundown Monday, despite scepticism over how long the truce in the five-year conflict would hold.
The initial 48-hour truce came into force at 7:00 pm local time (1600 GMT) across Syria except in areas held by jihadists like the Islamic State group.
Syria´s armed forces immediately an**unced a seven-day "freeze" on military operations, lasting to midnight next Sunday.
But opposition forces had yet to formally sign on and the deal´s fragility was underscored just hours before sundown when President Bashar al-Assad vowed to retake the whole country from "terrorists".
The agreement, an**unced Friday after marathon talks between Russia and the United States, has been billed as the best chance yet to halt the bloodshed in Syria´s civil war which has raged since March 2011.
As well as bringing a temporary end to the fighting, it aims to provide crucial aid to hundreds of thousands of desperate civilians. AFP correspondents in Syria´s devastated second city Aleppo, divided between a rebel-held east and regime-controlled west since mid-2012, said fighting appeared to have stopped as the ceasefire took effect.
A final rocket was fired from the east into government areas just five minutes before 7:00 pm, while rebel neighbourhoods had **t been hit by bombardments for about two hours, they said.
"I was checking the time all day, waiting for it to turn 7:00," said Khaled al-Muraweh, a 38-year-old shopkeeper in the Furqan district of western Aleppo.
"I hope the ceasefire holds so I can see my brother who lives in the opposition-held part of the city."
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The initial 48-hour truce came into force at 7:00 pm local time (1600 GMT) across Syria except in areas held by jihadists like the Islamic State group.
Syria´s armed forces immediately an**unced a seven-day "freeze" on military operations, lasting to midnight next Sunday.
But opposition forces had yet to formally sign on and the deal´s fragility was underscored just hours before sundown when President Bashar al-Assad vowed to retake the whole country from "terrorists".
The agreement, an**unced Friday after marathon talks between Russia and the United States, has been billed as the best chance yet to halt the bloodshed in Syria´s civil war which has raged since March 2011.
As well as bringing a temporary end to the fighting, it aims to provide crucial aid to hundreds of thousands of desperate civilians. AFP correspondents in Syria´s devastated second city Aleppo, divided between a rebel-held east and regime-controlled west since mid-2012, said fighting appeared to have stopped as the ceasefire took effect.
A final rocket was fired from the east into government areas just five minutes before 7:00 pm, while rebel neighbourhoods had **t been hit by bombardments for about two hours, they said.
"I was checking the time all day, waiting for it to turn 7:00," said Khaled al-Muraweh, a 38-year-old shopkeeper in the Furqan district of western Aleppo.
"I hope the ceasefire holds so I can see my brother who lives in the opposition-held part of the city."
http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/com/YEor/~4/Pn6WM22XclI
أكثر... (http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/com/YEor/~3/Pn6WM22XclI/149813-Syria-ceasefire-takes-effect-under-US-Russia-deal)