Syria’s ceasefire holding for second day, scattered airstrikes reported

Fighting in Syria appeared to have mostly stopped on Sunday, the second day of a US-Russian deal on a cessation of hostilities which seemed to be holding despite accusations of scattered airstrikes and bombings in Aleppo province.

The agreement – regard as the most successful effort yet to reduce the bloodshed in the five-year civil war – is the first of its kind to be attempted and, if it holds, would be the most successful truce of the war.

Under the accord accepted by President Bashar al-Assad's government and many of his foes, fighting should cease so aid can reach civilians and talks can open to end a war that has killed more than 250,000 people and made 11 million homeless.

The head of the Russian coordination centre in Syria Sergei Kuralenko said the plan was holding "in general" but said there had been nine violations of the truce in the past 24 hours.

Insurgents and the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which monitors the conflict, said war planes, believed to be either Syrian or Russian, bombed seven villages in the provinces of Aleppo and Hama. Several airstrikes his central and northern Syria on Sunday, a monitor said.

The opposition accused Russia of carrying out the strikes and said it would complain to the United Nations and countries backing the peace process but said it remained committed to the truce.

"The decision is to remain quiet, not to do anything, and I believe they will stick to the truce," said Syria's opposition spokesman Salim al-Muslat. "Yesterday was the first day people could really go out and walk in the streets."

The US and Russia are monitoring the ceasefire from separate command centres.

The deal, which is less binding than a formal ceasefire and was not directly signed by the Syrian warring sides, does not cover assaults on militants from Islamic State or the Nusra Front, an al Qaeda affiliate that called for an escalation of attacks on Friday.

It is up to Russia and the US to decide whether some attacks on either Islamic State (Isis) or the al-Nusra Front, two jihadi organisations excluded from the deal, are permissible. The two groups occupy at least half of Syria, but maps drawn up by the US and Russia do not show exactly the same territories that are excluded from the ceasefire.

Both superpowers have accepted there will be contested ceasefire breaches, and the real test of the deal will be whether they can not only agree that a breach has occurred but also prevent a repetition.

The aim is to strengthen the ceasefire, increase humanitarian access and build confidence before the resumption of peace talks in Geneva on 7 March.

Much of the violence reported over the weekend involved battles between Isis and the Syrian Kurds operating under the banner of the YPG, People’s Protection Units. Both America and Russia hope the ceasefire will put additional pressure on Isis.

Faish al-Nasr, a group affiliated to the Free Syrian Army (FSA) which has backed the truce, said government forces had fired mortars, rockets and machine guns in Hama province and that warplanes had been a constant presence in the sky.

“Compared to the previous days it is nothing, but we consider that they broke the truce,” Mohamed Rasheed, head of the group’s media office, told Reuters.

Another FSA-affiliated group, Alwiyat Seif al-Sham, said two of its fighters had been killed and four more wounded when government tanks shelled them in rural areas west of Damascus.