Doubts as US, Russia announce Syria truce

Syria's regime yesterday agreed to a ceasefire deal announced by the United States and Russia, but there were widespread doubts it could take effect by the weekend as hoped.

The agreement, announced Monday, does not apply to jihadists like the Islamic State group and Al-Nusra Front, putting up major hurdles to how it can be implemented on Syria's complex battlefield.

A Syrian foreign ministry statement said the government would continue to fight both those groups as well as other "terrorists", while agreeing to stop other military operations "in accordance with the Russian-American announcement."

The deal calls for a "cessation of hostilities" between forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad and opposition groups that would take effect overnight Friday-Saturday in Damascus.

The High Negotiations Committee (HNC) -- the leading Syrian opposition group -- gave its conditional acceptance to the deal late Monday.

Turkey and Israel yesterday said they were not optimistic over the implementation of the ceasefire.

But after several previous failed attempts, few had serious expectations for a lasting ceasefire.

Analysts said the deal may be simply unworkable, rebels on the ground doubted the regime's goodwill and many civilians expected their hopes to once again be dashed.

"It's a waste of time and it's difficult to implement on the ground," said Abu Ibrahim, a commander in the 10th Brigade opposition force in the northwestern Latakia province.He expected "numerous rebel groups" to reject the agreement, which he said was formed "without consulting any factions on the ground."

Despite being on opposing sides of the conflict, Moscow and Washington have been leading the latest diplomatic push to try to resolve a conflict that has left more than 260,000 dead and forced millions from their homes.

A new report by the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group put the number of dead at more than 370,000.

Shortly after the truce was announced, Assad issued a decree for parliamentary elections to be held on April 13, as the four-year term of the current legislature comes to a close.

The last such elections were held in May 2012 and although multiple parties were allowed to stand, most of the 250 lawmakers who were elected were from the ruling Baath party.