International News

ALEPPO, Syria, (APP/AFP): Under pressure from Russia and the
United States, the Syrian army agreed on Wednesday to respect a two-day truce in the war-ravaged city of Aleppo.
The Syrian climb-down came after Washington said the US and Russia
had agreed to push the warring parties to extend their shaky ceasefire.
“A truce will be in place in Aleppo for 48 hours from 1:00 am on
Thursday (2200 GMT Wednesday),” Syrian army command said, according to state media.
The Russian defence ministry said its ceasefire monitors had agreed
with their US counterparts to oversee this truce until midnight on May 6.
But for his part, US Secretary of State John Kerry said a new Aleppo
truce had already begun at at midnight Syrian time (2101 GMT Tuesday) and that violence had already fallen off.
On the ground, AFP correspondents said fierce fighting continued in
both Aleppo and an area west of Damascus that was already under the ceasefire regime.
“We’ve seen an overall decrease in violence in those areas even
though there are some reports of continued fighting in some locations,” Kerry said.