Fighting spikes in Syria ahead of cease-fire

The Aleppo Media Center, an activist collective, said 45 died in strikes that took place just hours after a new U.S.-Russian agreement was reached to try to end the violence in Syria.

The United States and Russia announced a deal Saturday that would establish a nationwide cease-fire starting on Monday, followed a week later by an new military partnership targeting Islamic State and al Qaeda militants as well as the establishment of new limits on the forces of Syrian President Bashar Assad.

Previous Syrian cease-fires or limited truces have also been preceded by spikes in violence as both government and rebel forces seek to consolidate positions or gain new ground in the final hours of fighting.

State news agency SANA said the Syrian government accepts the agreement, adding that hostilities will stop in the northern city of Aleppo, the country’s largest, for “humanitarian reasons.”