Syrian peace Picture EPA deal 29 die in airstrike
Airstrike horror at marketplace hours after US and Russia hail breakthrough deal
The United States and Russia hailed a breakthrough deal yesterday to put Syria’s peace process back on track.
But just hours later, there was more bloodshed in the war-torn country when an airstrike left at least 29 people dead.
The agreement reached by the powers backing opposing sides in the conflict promised a nationwide truce from sunset tomorrow.
America and Russia also promised an improvement to humanitarian aid access and joint military targeting of banned Islamist groups.
But Syrian rebels said they doubted the agreement would hold as violence raged on in Aleppo.
Rebel- held areas in the city came under attack from the Syrian army as president Bashar Assad pushed to maximise gains before the ceasefire deadline.
Residents and activists said helicopters dropped barrel bombs on civilian areas, with scores injured and at least four killed. And jets believed to be Russian destroyed a busy market in the city of Idlib, killing at least 25 people, including children and women. Bodies were still being pul led out of the rubble of collapsed buildings last night.
The UK- b a s ed Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said jets thought to be Syrian or Russian hit rebel-held towns in the northern countryside, including Anadan and Hreitan.
Insurgents said they were planning a counter-offensive to yesterday’s bloodshed. Captain Abdul Salam Abdul Razak, the military spokesman of Nour al-Din
al-Zinki Brigades, said: “The fighting is flaring on all the fronts of southern Aleppo but the clashes in Amiryah are the heaviest.”
Syria’s five-year civil war has killed hundreds of thousands in clashes between insurgents, some of whom are backed by the West, and pro-government forces backed by Russia and Iran.
US secretary of state John Kerry called on all sides to respect the peace deal, which was reached after marathon talks in Geneva and several fai led attempts to hammer out the details in recent weeks.
He said : “This requi res halting all attacks, including aerial bombardments and any attempts to gain additional territory at the expense of the parties to the cessation.
“It requires unimpeded and sustained humanitarian access to all of the besieged and hardto-reach areas including Aleppo.”
Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said that despite continuing mistrust between the two sides, they had produced five documents that would allow them to co- ordinate the fight against terrorism and revive Syria’s failed truce.
Both sides agreed not to release the documents publicly.
Lavrov said: “This all creates the necessary conditions for resumption of the pol itical process, which has been stalling for a long time.”
Previous efforts to forge agreements to stop the fighting and deliver humanitarian aid to besieged communities in Syria have crumbled within weeks.
The US have accused Assad’s forces of ignoring the truces by attacking opposition groups and civilians.