Syria's cease-fire, negotiated over the weekend by the U.S. and Russia, was reportedly broken less than an hour after it took effect Monday. Residents in the city of Aleppo reported that a "government helicopter had dropped explosive cylinders on a rebel-held district," The New York Times reported, while in the province of Dara,rebels claimed to have killed four government soldiers.
Though President Bashar al-Assad's government, Iran, Hezbollah, and the Free Syrian Army all vowed to uphold the truce, there were lingering doubts it would stick, deepened by the government bombing raids that took place over the weekend. The cease-fire was supposed to last seven days, after which the U.S. and Russia planned to coordinate airstrikes against Syrian militants.
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