Syria conflict: Government agrees truce with rebels – Putin

“The National Coalition expresses support for the agreement and urges all parties to abide by it”, spokesman Ahmed Ramadan said. Turkish state-run news agency Anadolu said yesterday that Turkey and Russian Federation had agreed a nationwide truce plan for Syria but none of the key players in the conflict offered an immediate confirmation.

Syrian rebel groups warned on Saturday that they would consider a two-day national ceasefire null and void if violations continue, urging the UN Security Council to refrain from endorsing the deal until the Syrian government and Russian Federation show they are committed to it, Reuters reports.

The Russian leader said that the Syrian government and the rebels had signed various documents including the agreement of ceasefire and the readiness to initiate peace talks between them.

A number of rebel groups have signed the agreement, Russia’s Defence Ministry said. But it did not end the war, he said, because terrorists were still in Syria.

On Thursday, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem hailed the ceasefire deal as a “real opportunity” for a political settlement of the deadly crisis in Syria, which has been plaguing the Arab country since early 2011.

The militia, which has captured large swathes of north-eastern Syria from IS with United States support, is designated a terrorist organisation by Turkey. Russia, who has backed Assad and helped Syrian forces with airstrikes, stands with Assad, while the U.S, U.K, and France insist he must go.

Iran is opposed to Turkish demands that Lebanese Hizbullah fighters, who have been backing Mr Assad, withdraw from Syria.

In an interview with TG5, an Italian television network, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad called his government’s recent victory over rebels in Aleppo “an important step toward ending the war”.

“All foreign fighters need to leave Syria”.

There are also more immediate hurdles.

Monitors and an opposition official reported clashes nearly immediately after the ceasefire came into effect between the opposition and regime forces along the provincial boundary between Idlib and Hama, and isolated incidents of gunfire further south. But he insisted the Astana talks, overseen by Turkey and Russian Federation, were not a rival to UN-backed talks that have been taking place on-and-off in Geneva in recent years. However, several rebel officials said the group, which has been renamed Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, was also included in the ceasefire deal.

In an interview with the state TV, just hours ahead of the commencement of the cease-fire, al-Moallem said the recently-reached nationwide cessation of hostilities in Syria is a real chance for ending the Syrian war and bringing an end to the bloodletting in the war-torn country.

The Hezbollah-run news outlet said during the night that regime forces were fighting against the former Nusra Front in that area and had killed several militants.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan has accused the United States of supporting terrorism in Syria, including Islamic State, comments that Washington has dismissed as “ludicrous”.