Middle East Eye :
Several villages in northern and central Syria were hit by air strikes on Sunday but the main frontlines between pro-government forces and opposition rebels remained relatively quiet as a partial ceasefire entered a second day.
One person was reported killed in an air strike that hit a village in Aleppo province, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. The UK-based monitoring group said seven villages in the provinces of Aleppo and Hama had been bombed by warplanes believed to be either Syrian or Russian.
Russia on Saturday had said that it would halt all air strikes for 24 hours to avoid “bombing mistakes” on the first day of the ceasefire, which came into effect at midnight local time (Friday 10 pm GMT).
In Aleppo, the subject of intensive Russian air strikes in previous weeks, residents reported a second consecutive night of relative calm.
“There’s something strange in this silence. We used to go to sleep and wake up with the sound of raids and artillery,” Abu Omar, 45, who runs a bakery in rebel-held east Aleppo, told the AFP news agency.
“I’m happy, but sad for regions that are not covered by the truce and whose
inhabitants continue to suffer,” he said.
The ceasefire, which was brokered by the US and Russia and has been accepted by the Syrian government and the main opposition umbrella organisation and scores of rebel groups, marks the first formal pause in fighting since Syria’s civil war began almost five years ago.
Questions remain about how long it will hold and how widely it will be implemented, with Syria and Russia stating that they will continue to fight against “terrorist” organisations excluded from the agreement, including the Islamic State (IS) group and the al-Qaeda-affiliated Nusra Front. The Nusra Front has operated for years alongside other factions in areas including Aleppo, raising concerns among other rebel groups that they could be caught up in attacks ostensibly targeting Nusra.
A commander in the hardline Islamist faction Ahrar al-Sham said his group, which is considered to be allied with Nusra, had not conducted any military operations since the truce started.
Several villages in northern and central Syria were hit by air strikes on Sunday but the main frontlines between pro-government forces and opposition rebels remained relatively quiet as a partial ceasefire entered a second day.
One person was reported killed in an air strike that hit a village in Aleppo province, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. The UK-based monitoring group said seven villages in the provinces of Aleppo and Hama had been bombed by warplanes believed to be either Syrian or Russian.
Russia on Saturday had said that it would halt all air strikes for 24 hours to avoid “bombing mistakes” on the first day of the ceasefire, which came into effect at midnight local time (Friday 10 pm GMT).
In Aleppo, the subject of intensive Russian air strikes in previous weeks, residents reported a second consecutive night of relative calm.
“There’s something strange in this silence. We used to go to sleep and wake up with the sound of raids and artillery,” Abu Omar, 45, who runs a bakery in rebel-held east Aleppo, told the AFP news agency.
“I’m happy, but sad for regions that are not covered by the truce and whose
inhabitants continue to suffer,” he said.
The ceasefire, which was brokered by the US and Russia and has been accepted by the Syrian government and the main opposition umbrella organisation and scores of rebel groups, marks the first formal pause in fighting since Syria’s civil war began almost five years ago.
Questions remain about how long it will hold and how widely it will be implemented, with Syria and Russia stating that they will continue to fight against “terrorist” organisations excluded from the agreement, including the Islamic State (IS) group and the al-Qaeda-affiliated Nusra Front. The Nusra Front has operated for years alongside other factions in areas including Aleppo, raising concerns among other rebel groups that they could be caught up in attacks ostensibly targeting Nusra.
A commander in the hardline Islamist faction Ahrar al-Sham said his group, which is considered to be allied with Nusra, had not conducted any military operations since the truce started.
