Syria Truce Takes Effect, Seems to Be Holding

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov’s office said he and US Secretary of State John Kerry had “hailed” the ceasefire in a phone call, and discussed ways of improving cooperation between their militaries.

Pledges to observe the ceasefire have been submitted by 17 “moderate” rebel groups and elders of 35 towns and villages, who said that they would expel anyone not willing to uphold the deal and enlist those willing to do it into local militias, the Russian center for reconciliation said. The UK’s ambassador to the United Nations, Matthew Rycroft, welcomed the ceasefire saying it could be “the most significant step forward in the past five years” but said much more needed to be done as the deal did not cover several groups operating in the country – including Isis and Jabjat al Nusra.

“I think this is the first time we’ve woken up without the sound of shelling”.

A co-ordination centre at the Hemeimeem air base in Syria’s coastal province of Latakia, where Russian warplanes are based, has 61 officers who negotiate with groups willing to join the ceasefire and co-ordinate aid deliveries.

Fighting appears to have “calmed down”, he told reporters shortly after midnight, adding that a special task force would meet in Geneva on Saturday to monitor the ceasefire.

If there are violations, he said, “the important point that we need to see is that if those incidents will be quickly brought under control and contained”.

Russian Federation said it was suspending, at least for the day, the airstrikes it had been conducting for five months in support of the Syrian government, and residents in many areas enjoyed a few tentative hours of calm.

The Russian military said it would not fly sorties across Syria on Saturday in order to avoid “bombing mistakes”, as an internationally backed truce largely held since going into effect at midnight.

“If it (the truce) holds, it will create the conditions for full, sustained and unimpeded humanitarian access throughout Syria”, Federica Mogherini, the head of foreign policy for the European Union.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights also confirmed the fighting in Tal Abyad.

A Syrian military source quoted by Reuters said the Syrian army “did not commit any breaches” against the rebels.

A boy inspects a damaged house in the rebel held besieged city of Douma, a suburb of Damascus, Syria, Feb. 27, 2016.

But on Saturday, children played in parks.

It was unclear if Sunday’s raids hit areas covered by the truce. Battles have continued for days in the strategic area that is close to the highway that links Aleppo with central and western Syria.

Twin suicide bombings also killed six people in Hama province, where Islamic State is present.

State TV said Syrian warplanes attacked Isil oil tanker trucks in the eastern province of Deir el-Zour.

The complexities of a conflict which escalated from anti-government protests into a full-blown war drawing in rival world powers make brokering a lasting halt to the fighting a huge challenge. Moreover terror groups have continued to attack both the government and areas controlled by other rebel groups.