Syrian army extends nationwide ceasefire for 72 hours

Beirut: The Syrian military has extended a nationwide ceasefire that expired on Friday for another 72 hours, state media reported on Saturday.
The military high command said in a statement "a regime of calm will be extended for a period of 72 hours from one o'clock on July 9".
The Syrian government uses the term "regime of calm" to denote a temporary ceasefire.
The previous 72-hour truce, which was accepted by the Free Syrian Army (FSA) rebel alliance but led to no noticeable decrease in violence, ran up to midnight on July 8.
That truce was the first to be declared across the whole country since one brokered by foreign powers in February to facilitate talks to end the five-year-old civil war. That truce has mostly unravelled, and the escalating violence caused talks to break down.
The Syrian army and the Russian military, which backs Assad, have since then periodically announced a number of temporary local truces in areas of intense fighting. But air strikes and fighting have often continued in spite of the declarations.
Meanwhile, rebel shelling into government-held parts of Syria's second city Aleppo killed at least 38 civilians on Saturday, a war monitor said, as Syrian government forces continued their offensive to completely encircle rebel-held parts of the city.
Those killed included 14 children and 13 women, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights conflict monitor said.
During this week's three-day truce, Syrian government forces advanced towards the only route into the opposition half of the city of Aleppo, the Castello Road, bringing the road within closer firing range and trapping between 250,000 and 300,000 people.
They also took territory from rebels east of Damascus.
Aleppo, Syria's largest city before the war when it had more than 2 million people, has been divided for years into rebel and government sectors. Controlling all of it has been one of President Bashar Al Assad's biggest goals.
Heavy aerial and artillery bombardment had at times made the Castello Road impassable. But this week's advance brings government forces the closest so far to the road, making it even easier to hit.
The Observatory said air strikes and heavy shelling also hit rebel-held parts of Aleppo, killing at least five people.
Syrian state media put Saturday's death toll from rebel-fire in Aleppo at around 40, with more than 300 injured.
Syrian government and allied forces took control of a rebel-held town east of Damascus after a 12-day battle, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said, compromising a supply route into opposition territory.
Maydaa was the easternmost outpost of the rebel-held bloc of territory in Eastern Ghouta and was used as a supply route into the area for weapons and money, the Britain-based Observatory said. It was the last rebel-held bit of territory before the rebel-held town of Dumeir to the east, from which it was separated by a stretch of government-controlled land.
Maydaa had been under the control of the powerful Jaish Al Islam rebel faction and was the group's closest position to Dumeir military airport, where they are fighting to displace government forces.