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Saturday, February 27, 2016

Russia halts air strikes as Syria truce takes hold


Russia halted air strikes in Syria on Saturday in accordance with a ceasefire brokered by Moscow and Washinton as part of efforts to gain momentum for peace talks to end the nearly five-year war. 
Russia entered the Syrian conflict on behalf of ally President Bashar al-Assad in September 2015, and its air power has played a significant role in the recent major gains by government forces. 
"Russia's air force fully halted bombing in the green zone - that is in those areas and those armed groups which had sent us ceasefire requests," Sergei Rudskoi, a senior representative of the General Staff, told reporters.
A lull in fighting was reported throughout Syria on Saturday, hours after the US-Russia brokered "cessation of hostilities" agreement took effect.
The UN Security Council unanimously passed a vote late on Friday to support the pause in fighting in Syria, and demanded that all parties to the agreement fulfill their commitments to end hostilities.
The ceasefire began at midnight Damascus time on Saturday (22:00 GMT Friday).
"The situation is calm - the truce is largely holding - for the first time in many years," said Al Jazeera's Omar al-Salah, reporting from Turkey's Gaziantep on the border with Syria.  
"The air base in Latakia, which the Russians use for their air strikes, was very calm as well." 
However, while there were no reports of air strikes or heavy artillery fire, violence was reported on Saturday.         
A Syrian rebel group in the country's northwest said it came under attack from government ground forces at 4am (02:00 GMT) in what it called a breach of the cessation of hostilities plan.
Three fighters from the rebel First Coastal Division were killed while repelling the attack in the Jabal Turkman area near the Turkish border in Latakia province, Fadi Ahmad, the group's spokesman, told Reuters news agency.
The Syrian military could not immediately be reached for comment. 
The Syrian government has said it will respect the agreement drawn up by Russia and the United States, but said it will continue to fight the al-Qaeda-linked Nusra Front and Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) groups, which are not covered by the deal.
Meanwhile, a suicide car bomb exploded Saturday on the edge of Salamiyeh, a government-held central town, killing two people and wounding four others, the state news agency said.
UN Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura said any use of force must be proportionate and a last resort if fresh fighting breaks the cessation of hostilities. "No doubt there will be no shortage of attempts to undermine this process. We are ready for it," he said. 
Countries backing the Syrian peace process meet on Saturday in Geneva to assess the situation.
"Let's pray that this works because frankly this is the best opportunity we can imagine the Syrian people has had for the last five years in order to see something better and hopefully something related to peace," de Mistura said.
Al Jazeera's diplomatic editor, James Bays, reporting from UN headquarters in New York, said the start of the conditional truce was a crucial moment in the peace process.
"Everyone knows there are going to be violations of the cessation of hostilities," he said.
"Diplomats tell me the best they can expect is a lull in the violence, and then it might just be possible to persuade the warring parties to resume talks in Geneva."
De Mistura said Syrian peace talks will reconvene on March 7 if the two-week ceasefire holds.
The Syrian government has previously said it would abide by the truce, but would have the right to retaliate for any attacks.
The deal marks the biggest diplomatic push yet to end Syria's nearly five-year-old war, which has killed more than 260,000 people and displaced millions from their homes.

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