Russia: US can pressure Syrian rebels on ceasefire

Fighting in and around Aleppo has generally subsided giving civilians much needed reprieve, but there have been reports of violations [Xinhua]
Russia has accused US-backed Syrian rebels of failing to hold their end of the bargain in a ceasefire which only began four days ago.
Major General Igor Konashenkov of the Russian military said in a statement from the Kremlin on Friday that he suspected Syrian rebels – namely Islamist armed groups – may not have the ability to comply with the tenets of the ceasefire agreement.
He quoted Russian observers of the ceasefire near the besieged city of Aleppo and said that the “the only party which is willing to hold talks, comply with the cease-fire and pull back the troops in order to allow UN humanitarian aid convoys” are the Syrian government forces.
Other Russian military sources said that the Islamist rebels had violated the ceasefire some 144 times in the past four days.
Meanwhile, Russian presidential spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that the ceasefire was “by and large” holding steady despite complaints of violations, but urged the US to do more to influence the rebel groups it supports in Syria.
“It goes without saying that Russia continues using its influence in order to ensure the implementation of the ceasefire agreements and it hopes that our US counterparts will be doing the same,” he said in remarks carried by the Russian news agency TASS.
The ceasefire, which began on Monday, expires in 72 hours but both Russia and the US say they hope all sides can extend it beyond the first week.
According to the agreement signed by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and US Secretary of State John Kerry in Geneva last week, both government forces and Islamist rebels will withdraw from a strategic Aleppo road where much fighting has occurred in the past few days.
This would then pave for the creation of a demilitarized zone that would facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid. Both Russia and the US pledged to pressure both sides in the conflict to stick to the tenets of the ceasefire.
Russia had agreed to impose a ban on air raids by Russian and Syrian fighter bombers in some areas of the country.
If the ceasefire holds for seven days, Russia and the US would then coordinate military planning to destroy the Islamic State and the Al-Qaeda affiliated Al Nusra militias.
The BRICS Post with inputs from Agencies