US and Russia extend ceasefire to Aleppo

Two countries will co-ordinate to strengthen monitoring of new arrangement

The United States and Russia have agreed to extend a cessation of hostilities in Syria to include Aleppo province, and will co-ordinate to strengthen monitoring of the new arrangement, the US state department said yesterday.

Spokesman Mark Toner said it was critical that Russia redoubled efforts to press Syrian president Bashar al-Assad to comply with the new arrangement while Washington played its part with Syrian opposition forces.

“Our objective remains, and has always been, a single nationwide cessation of hostilities covering all of Syria,” Mr Toner said.

Since the cessation of hostilities went into effect at midnight in Syria, “we have seen an overall decrease in violence in these areas”, he said.

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Aleppo has been the scene of the worst surge in fighting in recent days, wrecking the first major ceasefire of the five-year-old civil war, which had held since February.

US secretary of state John Kerry said on Tuesday he believed a ceasefire deal could still be restored in Syria despite escalating violence, and warned MrAssad of "repercussions" unless he sticks to the agreement. Mr Kerry said it would take a few days until the truce took effect. –(Reuters)