A cease-fire in Syria entered its first full day Tuesday with reports of widespread calm and a few instances of violence.
The halt in fighting went into effect after sundown Monday. Hours later, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry declared it “may be the last chance” to preserve the country fractured by five years of civil war.
He said it is premature to make a determination on the U.S. and Russian brokered cease-fire's effectiveness.
The agreement was announced early Saturday in Geneva by Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. It is supported by a number of other nations, including Iran, which is a backer of the Syrian government, and Turkey, which wants the removal of President Bashar al-Assad from power in Damascus.
Making an appeal from the State Department podium for all parties to observe the cessation of hostilities, Kerry predicted there will be challenges in the immediate days ahead for the cease-fire to hold, and clearing the way for significant humanitarian access to some of the hardest-hit areas to resume.
Seven days of relative calm under the agreement would lead to U.S.-Russian coordinated air strikes against Islamic State and the al-Nusra Front (which now calls itself Jabhat Fateh al-Sham), considered to be a branch of al-Qaida.
Kerry characterized the situation in Syria as the most complex conflict he has confronted in his decades of service as a U.S. senator and America's top diplomat, because “there are a bunch of wars going on” there.