Dozens killed in airstrikes against rebels

The attack comes hours after a truce deal between the US and Russia was reached

Airstrikes killed dozens in rebel-held parts of Syria as the opposition considered whether to join a US-Russia truce deal due to take effect on Monday.

Brokered after marathon talks by the Russian and US foreign ministers, the cease-fire has been billed as the best chance to end Syria's 5-year war.

Key regime ally Iran welcomed the plan on Sunday and called for "comprehensive monitoring" of the truce, particularly along Syria's volatile borders.

But even as world powers threw their weight behind the agreement, a barrage of unidentified raids left scores dead in opposition territory in two key northern cities on Saturday.

At least 62 people - including 13 women and 13 children - were killed in heavy bombardment on Idlib city, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Sunday in a new toll.

The strikes hit several areas in the rebel-held city, including a market where shoppers were buying goods ahead of the first day of Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha on Monday.

The UK's special representative for Syria Gareth Bayley called the attacks "barbaric."

"Bring on the #SyriaCeasefire," he tweeted on Sunday.

Another 12 civilians were killed in unidentified strikes on several neighborhoods of Aleppo city, and 18 people died in bombardment of other parts of Aleppo province, the Observatory said.

"We hope there will be a cease-fire so that civilians can get a break. The shelling goes on night and day, there are targeted killings, besieged cities," said Abu Abdullah, who lives in Aleppo's rebel-held east.

"Civilians have no hope anymore."

State news agency SANA on Saturday reported that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government "approved the agreement".

And Iran's foreign ministry spokesman Bahram Ghasemi backed the deal on Sunday.

"The continuation and sustainability of a cease-fire relies on the creation of a comprehensive monitoring mechanism, in particular control of borders in order to stop the dispatch of fresh terrorists, as well as weapons and financial resources for the terrorists," he said.

But Syria's main opposition group the High Negotiations Committee - which brings together political dissidents with armed rebel factions - had yet to formally respond.

Leading rebel figure Mohammad Alloush on Sunday said the agreement was "still being studied."

More than 290,000 Syrians have been killed in the 5-year war that has seen millions more flee to neighboring countries.

The agreement was reached after marathon talks by US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Geneva.

It would see fighting and indiscriminate air attacks halt across the country starting at sundown on Monday for a period of 48 hours, which could then be renewed.

(China Daily 09/12/2016 page11)