Syrian cease-fire reportedly violated less than an hour after taking effect

A truce brokered by Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was broken less than an hour after it began.

(Image credit: FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP/Getty Images)

published 12 September 2016

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.