Beit HaShalom

After only a week, the Syrian Army has officially abandoned the ceasefire negotiated between Russia and the US. Less than two hours after the last extension of the ceasefire expired, an AFP correspondent reported that those sections of Aleppo held by rebel forces were already seeing heavy shelling. According to the correspondent, shelling has been, "non-stop," and ambulances have been running constantly throughout the eastern half of the city. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights added that the northern section of the city is also under bombardment. Reportedly, both the American and Russian governments deny responsibility. According to US Secretary of State John Kerry, Russia had failed to meet their side of the deal. The US, though, was fully willing to give it another try. Reuters reports that in Kerry’s opinion, it is too early to give up on the truce and that only Russia and the US had the authority to end the truce since they were the negotiators. When asked about Syria’s decision, Kerry said, "It would be good if they didn’t talk first to the press, but if they talked to the people who are actually negotiating this. We just began today to see real movement of humanitarian goods [sic], and let’s see where we are. We’re happy to have a conversation with them." However, Russian military officers and officials have claimed that America has been continually encouraging US-associated rebel groups to continue their efforts against Assad. In their opinion, there was no point in pressing Assad to keep the ceasefire if the rebels were not. Many people had been deeply skeptical of the two sides' ability to keep a ceasefire. Regardless, Russian and US diplomats have called a new round of talks for Tuesday, in hopes of renewing the lull. AFP contributed to this report.

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