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2nd LD Writethru: UN envoy reports significant drop in violence in first day of Syria ceasefire

Xinhua, September 14, 2016 Adjust font size:

The UN Special Envoy for Syria said Tuesday that a ceasefire brokered by the United States and Russia was largely holding, adding that more time was needed to assess the situation on the ground.

"Compared to previous days, there is no doubt a significant drop in violence," Staffan de Mistura told reporters during a press conference held here just 24 hours after the ceasefire taking into effect.

"Today calm appears to have prevailed across Hama, Latakia, Aleppo city and Rural Aleppo and Idlib, with only some allegations of sporadic and geographically isolated incidents," de Mistura said.

He told reporters that including inside Aleppo city, the situation has dramatically improved with no air strikes.

"Of course, this is only 24 hours, the 48 hour benchmark is going to be important because that's the one which will be assessed by the two co-chairs," he added.

Both the United States and Russia, who co-chair the International Syria Support Group (ISSG), agreed last week to implement a seven-day truce beginning at sundown on Sept. 12.

This is hoped to allow UN aid convoys to reach besieged and hard-to-reach areas as well as give new impetus to political talks seeking to broker a political end to the five-year conflict.

Despite positive developments, UN convoys have yet to be given the green light to reach civilians trapped in priority areas including east Aleppo, Kafraya, Foah, Madaya, Az-Zabadni and Madamiyet Elsham.

"The UN is ready ... there is no reason not to believe that UN access should be taking place very, very soon," the diplomat indicated.

Compounding humanitarian concerns, de Mistura also mentioned some of the delicate points of the agreement that need to be closely monitored in the coming days.

Amongst these is avoiding that incidents that challenge the fragile truce snowball out of control, as happened earlier this year when a similar truce was set up by ISSG members.

He also highlighted the challenge of separating opposition rebels from al-Nusra fighters, a key component of the package adopted by the United States and Russia last week after marathon discussions. Endit