Ruinous violence has raged in several parts of Syria, shortly after the US and Russia sealed an ambitious agreement aimed at breathing life back into a stuttering peace process.
More than 100 people were reported killed in a series of bombing raids on rebel-held parts of Aleppo province in the north of the country, and in Idlib in the north-west, over the weekend.
The worst strikes were in Idlib city, the capital of the province of the same name, where they hit a market, killing 55 civilians.
“A Russian fighter jet targeted a residential area and a market in Idlib,” reported Al Jazeera’s Adham Abu al-Husam.
“The marketplace was full of civilians shopping for the upcoming Eid holiday.”
In Aleppo, at least 46 civilians, including nine children, were killed in a bombardment of opposition-held areas, reported Al Jazeera.
The raids on Idlib and Aleppo were believed to have been carried out by Syrian army fighter jets, or those of its main ally Russia.
CEASEFIRE AGREEMENT
The surge in violence came hours after the US and Russia’s top diplomats announced the ceasefire agreement after 13 hours of talks in the Swiss city of Geneva.
The accord included a truce to start across Syria at sunset on Monday, the first day of the Muslim Eid al-Adha festival. The agreement also paved the way for joint US-Russian raids against armed groups in Syria, including the so-called Islamic State terrorist group.
US Secretary of State John Kerry, emerging late on Friday in Geneva from talks with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, said the deal could provide a “turning point” in the conflict if the parties implemented it “in good faith”.
ALLIES
Russia is a major ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, while the US is supporting opposition forces fighting to oust him.
Syria’s state news agency, SANA, said that the Geneva agreement had been reached “with full knowledge” of the Syrian government, which has approved it.
The Syrian opposition reacted with caution to the pact. The High Negotiations Committee (HNC), an opposition umbrella coalition, welcomed the agreement but called on Russia to pressure Assad’s government to comply with the deal.
A previous ceasefire, brokered by the US and Russia in February, collapsed.
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