The Syrian army said it was observing a 72-hour ceasefire across the country coinciding with the festival marking the end of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.
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| Syria’s president, Bashar al-Assad (centre), joins Eid prayers at al-Safa mosque in Homs on Wednesday. |
“A ‘regime of silence’ is applied across all territory of the Syrian Arab Republic for 72 hours from 1am on 6 July to midnight on 8 July,” the army said on Wednesday in a statement republished by official media.
The statement did not specify whether the ceasefire extended to military action against militant jihadis such as Islamic State or the al-Qaida-affiliated al-Nusra Front.
The US secretary of state, John Kerry, said he hoped the truce was “a harbinger” that more ambitious and long-lasting similar deals could be struck.
“We very much welcome the Syrian army declaration of 72 hours of quiet,” Kerry told a news conference in Tbilisi, Georgia, adding that discussions were under way to try to extend the truce.
“We are trying very hard to grow these current discussions into a longer lasting ... enforceable, accountable cessation of hostilities that could change the dynamics on the ground.”
There was no immediate indication whether rebel forces opposing the Syrian president, Bashar al-Assad, would abide by the truce.
The ceasefire coincides with the three-day Eid al-Fitr festival marking the end of Ramadan.
Assad joined Eid prayers at a mosque in Homs on Wednesday in a rare public appearance outside Damascus.
Homs is mainly under government control except for a besieged rebel-held neighbourhood on the city’s outskirts. State television broadcast footage of Assad joining worshippers at al-Safa mosque.
Despite the ceasefire announcement, Aleppo’s rebel-held eastern areas came under fire on Wednesday morning, according to residents and the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
A civilian was killed and several wounded in the eastern al-Mashhad district when artillery fire fell near a mosque hosting Eid prayers.
guardian
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