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End of Syria’s Truce with U.S.-Russian Disagreement | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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russian foreign minister sergei lavrov and us state secretary john kerry shake hands-reuters


Beirut- A U.S.-Russia brokered ceasefire in Syria expired Monday at 7pm local time, following a number of major violations reported and the mobilization of the Syrian regime militants in Hama countryside.

This was also due to Syrian and Russian air forces resuming their activities amidst U.S.-Russian political disagreement on the implementation of the deal, which seemed to be the basic reason behind ending it.

Syrian regime announced on Monday the end of the freeze on fighting that began on September 12, 2016 in accordance with the U.S.-Russia agreement.

It blamed militant groups for the failure of the ceasefire, saying they “did not commit to a single element” of the deal.

“Syrian servicemen and peaceful citizens are still dying. The cause of this is the fact the United States has no effective leverage to influence Syria’s opposition and is unaware of the real situation on the ground,” Lieutenant-General Sergei Rudskoi, a senior Russian Defense Ministry official, told reporters.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry told reporters, on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly’s meeting, that U.S. and Russian officials were meeting in Geneva to try to sort out aid deliveries to Aleppo and other besieged communities. American officials said, however, that conditions were still not right for U.S.-Russian military cooperation.

A Syrian activist group said 92 people have been killed in Syria since the start of the ceasefire.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 29 children and teenagers were among those killed, as well as 17 women.

The figure does not include dozens of Syrian soldiers and ISIS militants killed in the eastern province of Deir el-Zour, the Observatory said Monday.

The opposition reported 254 violations by government forces and their allies since the truce started on Sept. 12 and a senior Syrian opposition official declared the ceasefire “clinically dead.”