BEIRUT – A ceasefire in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo will be extended by 48 hours beginning at 1 a.m. on Tuesday (2200 GMT Monday night), state news agency SANA said on Monday, quoting the Syrian military high command.
“The extension of the regime of calm in Aleppo and its countryside for a period of 48 hours will be from one o’clock in the morning on Tuesday until 2400 on Wednesday,” SANA said.
Aleppo, Syria‘s largest pre-war city, has witnessed a vicious flare-up in fighting in recent weeks, shattering a nationwide cessation of hostilities agreement and causing peace talks to collapse.
In an attempt to revive the cessation of hostilities, a number of short-term local truces have been put in place since April 29, first around Damascus and northern Latakia and then in Aleppo.
The Aleppo truce went into effect in the middle of last week, but there has been fighting between rebels and government forces.
The most significant outbreak of violence has been southwest of Aleppo around the town of Kham Touman, which rebels seized on Friday, inflicting a rare setback on government forces and allied Iranian troops who suffered heavy losses in the fighting.
