With the crucial exception of Benghazi, Libya's second city in the east, fighting has largely subsided since the UN brokered a country-wide ceasefire.
The exceptional taboo that surrounds the use of chemical weapons has contributed to a diplomatic breakthrough, but dismantling Syria's deadly chemical arsenal will be hard, if not impossible, without a wider ceasefire.
Diplomats believe a wider ceasefire in Syria – let alone peace talks to end the conflict – will not be considered unless there is an end to to the impasse over Aleppo.
The Syrian government said the "regime of calm" – from which a military source said Aleppo was excluded – was an attempt to salvage a wider ceasefire deal reached in February.
More broadly, pressure is bound to be placed on Israel to lift the blockade of Gaza as part of a wider ceasefire deal, one of the proposals set out by coincidence in a report on the Middle East published by the international development select committee.
US Secretary of State John Kerry said on Monday he hoped for more clarity in the next day or so on restoring a wider ceasefire, a reference to a February 27 "cessation of hostilities" agreement that has unravelled in recent weeks, particularly in Aleppo.
For one thing, the insurgency is highly fractured, though some American and Iraqi commanders believe there is scope for deals with local guerrilla leaders and tribal sheikhs that might lead to wider ceasefires.
That agreement, endorsed by the Security Council in December, envisioned a wide-scale ceasefire and a push toward transitional governance.
What we do in search of another ceasefire and wider settlement of the Israel/Palestine conundrum we try to do with others, the EU, the UN, the Quartet.
The UN statement called for a ceasefire and wider peace talks.
He also repeated his veiled threat of a wider army operation if the ceasefire failed: "I know there are citizens expecting a more severe military action, and perhaps we shall need to do so".
