© Digital Globe/Foundation for Deep EcologyRandom revealing picture of the day: New Delhi, India, where many landfills are reaching a breaking point. The surrounding population of Delhi totals some 25 million people.
The Syrian ceasefire officially went into effect last night. The Russian General Staff reports the Syrian government has
fully halted attacks on all but Daesh and Nusra areas. Early reports yesterday suggested "some reduction in violence",
according to Kerry. German FM Steinmeier called it a "
significant" reduction in violence. Today we have
the same story: largely holding, only minor violations reported (e.g., rebels
shelled army positions near the Castillo Road north of Aleppo - they even attacked Russian Marines during a
live broadcast with the Russian Defense Ministry). Things are even reportedly calm in rebel-held east Aleppo -- somewhat surprising given the presence of Nusra there. And even the UK-based one-man anti-Assad psyop known as the "Syrian Observatory for Human Rights" is reporting that not a single civilian has been reported killed in the last 15 hours. SOHR focuses on civilian deaths allegedly caused by Syrian airstrikes, but as usual, he (it's just one guy) doesn't pay all that much attention to civilian deaths caused by rebels.
The Russian military reported
23 violations by rebel militants over the past day, shelling residential and army positions and causing 6 deaths in Aleppo and 10 wounded. Russia has called on the Syrian government not to respond to these provocations: "I ask everyone not to succumb to provocations, to carefully record all possible violations and send the data to the Russian Reconciliation Center," Russian General Staff official Viktor Poznikhir said.
Comment: Washington refused to list Ahrar al-Sham among terrorist organizations, hasn't provided coordinates for Jabhat al-Nusra terrorists See also: