Ceasefire has been declared in Aleppo after talks took places between the United States and Russia, the U.S. State Department said in a statement on Wednesday. The region has been gutted during the recent fights between the Syrian Army and the rebel groups. There has been a decrease in violence since the ceasefire came into effect at midnight, although fighting was reported from some locations.
Fighting between the national army and rebel groups in Aleppo had peaked recently, causing several civilian deaths. More than 200 people have died in a little more than a week. At least two hospitals have come under attack, one of which was run by the medical charity, Medicins Sans Frontiers (MSF), or Doctors Without Borders. Many doctors, including one of the last existing pediatricians, were killed in airstrikes. The United Nations envoy to Syria, Staffan de Mistura, had called on the two nations to restart peace talks as violence in Aleppo was crumbling the ceasefire in the country.
The two countries are also working towards "enhanced monitoring efforts of this renewed cessation," the statement said.
The U.S. will ensure a cessation of violence by the rebel groups and Russia would do the same for the national army. A 48-hour ceasefire has been imposed in Eastern Ghouta as well.
"It is critical that Russia redouble its efforts to influence the regime to abide fully by the cessation," the department said in a statement, adding that it aims for a nationwide cessation of hostilities and not just "local truce."
"We expect all the parties to the cessation of hostilities to fully abide by the renewed cessation in Aleppo. That means the regime and the opposition alike. And we also expect them to live by the cessation throughout the country, pursuant to the terms that were arrived at and agreed upon in Munich in February of this year," the U.S. Secretary of State, John Kerry, said in a statement."
