Guns fall silent in Syria as first major truce begins
A picture provided by the United Nations on February 27, 2016 shows a general view of the operations centre which provides round the clock communications and liaison support for the Syria Ceasefire Taskforce at the United Nations Office in Geneva. PHOTO | AFP
What you need to know:
On the stroke of Friday midnight, firing stopped in suburbs around the capital and the devastated northern city of Aleppo, after a day of intense Russian air strikes on rebel bastions.
Monitoring group — Syrian Observatory for Human Rights — said it was quiet in the north of Latakia province and in the central provinces of Homs and Hama.
The nationwide cessation of hostilities was the first pause in fighting since civil war broke out.
UN envoy Staffan de Mistura said peace talks would resume on March 7 if the ceasefire holds and more aid is delivered — a key sticking point in negotiations for a truce.
DAMASCUS, Saturday
Guns have fallen silent across Syria after a landmark UN-backed ceasefire came into effect, the first major truce in five years of a civil war that has claimed more than 270,000 lives.
On the stroke of Friday midnight, firing stopped in suburbs around the capital and the devastated northern city of Aleppo, after a day of intense Russian air strikes on rebel bastions.
Monitoring group — Syrian Observatory for Human Rights — said it was quiet in the north of Latakia province and in the central provinces of Homs and Hama.
“I may be up late tonight and hope I won’t be wakened tomorrow by the sound of airplanes,” Mohammed Nohad, a resident of Aleppo’s rebel-held district of Al-Kalasseh, said.
The nationwide cessation of hostilities was the first pause in fighting since civil war broke out.
UN envoy Staffan de Mistura said peace talks would resume on March 7 if the ceasefire holds and more aid is delivered — a key sticking point in negotiations for a truce.
But previous attempts to end the conflict have failed and Russia and the US, which back opposing sides in the fight, have warned that applying it on the ground would be difficult.
“I can’t hide the fact that I’m happy the war has stopped, even for a few minutes,” 24-year-old regime soldier Abdel Rahman Issa said from the battlefield of Jobar on the outskirts of Damascus. “If it continues like this, maybe we can go home.”
Analysts have questioned whether it can be effective on Syria’s complex battlefields, as the truce allows fighting to continue with Islamic State and Al-Nusra Front jihadists.
There were intermittent clashes after the ceasefire began between pro-regime forces and both groups, the Observatory said, as well as fighting between jihadists and Kurds. ()
