“On Russia's initiative, a 'regime of silence' has been introduced in Aleppo for 48 hours from 00:01 16 June (2100 GMT on Wednesday) with the goal of lowering the level of armed violence and stabilizing the situation” a ministry statement said.
 
John Kerry had accused Russia and Syrian President’s Bashar al-Assad regime of abandoning the February ceasefire.
 
“Unless we get a better definition of how this cessation is going to work … we are not going to sit there while Assad continues to offensively assault Aleppo and while Russia continues to support in that effort” Kerry told reporters in Oslo.
 
“The United States is not going to sit there and be used as an instrument that permits a so-called ceasefire to be in place while one principal party is trying to take advantage of it to the detriment of the entire process” he added.
 
One of President Assad's biggest goals has been controlling all of Aleppo, which has been divided for years into rebel and government sectors. It had a pre-war population of more than two million.
 
In a statement, the ministry added that a ceasefire was still in place in Daraya, a suburb of Damascus, and it was largely being observed.