The 19-month conflict has cost an estimated 34000 lives The Syrian government has agreed to a ceasefire during Eid al-Adha, Peace Envoy Lakhdar Brahimi said in Cairo. The Syrian opposition said they will only agree to the ceasefire if the government officially agrees to it first. The peace envoy also announced that most rebel leaders said they observe the truce.
The Syrian foreign ministry said in a statement, "The army command is studying the cessation of military operations during the Eid holiday, and the final decision will be taken tomorrow (Thursday)."
Brahimi said: “After the visit I made to Damascus, there is agreement from the Syrian government for a ceasefire during the Eid. If we succeed with this modest initiative, a longer ceasefire can be built on it."
A ceasefire proposed by Braihimi's predecessor Kofi Annan as part of a six-point peace plan failed to take hold on April 12.
The Syrian foreign ministry said in a statement, "The army command is studying the cessation of military operations during the Eid holiday, and the final decision will be taken tomorrow (Thursday)."
The hoped-for halt in fighting that has killed an estimated 34,000 people and is now costing around 100 lives a day aims to clear the way for a political dialogue to resolve the conflict.
Brahimi's dramatic announcement came as violence raged on, with at least 48 killed across the country on Wednesday, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
The monitoring group said 16 civilians were killed in Douma in Damascus province and eight soldiers in a car bombing in the northern province of Raqa bordering Turkey.
Warplanes raided the rebel-held town of Maaret al-Numan, the Observatory said, even as Brahimi prepared to brief the UN Security Council on his ceasefire efforts.
The two sides are battling over Maaret al-Numan for control of a key military base and a stretch of the highway linking Damascus and Aleppo, the country's second city.
The Observatory said the Free Syrian Army and Al-Nusra Front, an Islamist group, were leading the assault on Wadi Deif base near the town in the northwestern province of Idlib.
Five members of the same family, including a woman and a child, were killed in an air strike on Maaret Shamirin village in the province, according to the Britain-based Observatory.
It said air raids further south targeted Irbin and Harasta, in the Damascus suburbs, where four rebels were killed in clashes, and added that several districts of Aleppo also came under air strikes.
In Moscow, Russia's top general said on Wednesday that the rebels had secured shoulder-launched missile systems capable of shooting down aircraft, including Stingers made by the United States.
"We have information that the rebels fighting the Syrian army have shoulder-launched surface-to-air missiles of several states, including Stingers," General Nikolai Makarov said, quoted by Interfax news agency.
On the diplomatic front, United Nations spokesman Martin Nesirky said Brahimi would brief the divided Security Council on his efforts on Wednesday.
The council is bitterly divided over the conflict, with Western nations pressing for international action against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad while Russia and China have been blocking these moves.
UN peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous spoke on Monday of tentative plans to assemble a peacekeeping force if a ceasefire takes hold.
Damascus has said Brahimi's visit was "successful" although there was no concrete outcome. The Arab League, however, has dampened hopes of a truce, saying the chances of it coming into effect were "slim."