A countrywide ceasefire brokered by the United States and Russia began at sundown on yesterday, coinciding with the Muslim Eid al-Adha holiday, but there are concerns about whether it will hold. Several hours into the ceasefire, the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said major conflict zones across the country were quiet.
The deal agreed to on Friday by US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, aims at putting an end to fighting and moving towards a political transition after more than five years of war between forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad and rebel groups fighting to depose him. US Secretary of State John Kerry speaking at the State department in Washington, who helped broker the deal, warned it could be the last chance for peace in a united Syria.
Humanitarian groups are hoping to make aid deliveries to the worst-hit areas, especially the war-torn city of Aleppo. The truce does not apply to the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant, or Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, the group formerly known as Al-Nusra Front. The Syrian government, as well as Iran and the Lebanese Hezbollah armed group, two of its strongest allies, have all agreed to the deal, but rebel groups expressed serious concerns.