BEIRUT — A nationwide ceasefire was holding across Syria at the start of its second day on Tuesday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
The monitoring body said it had not recorded a single civilian death from fighting in the 15 hours since the ceasefire came into effect on Monday night.
Rami Abdurrahman from the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says “calm is prevailing” in most of the country on Tuesday, though there were minor violations in central Hama province.
Another activist group, the Local Coordination Committees reported some shelling in Aleppo and the southern region of Quneitra.
Ahmad Al-Masalmeh, an opposition activist in the southern province of Daraa — where Syria’s crisis began in 2011 — says the region was also calm.
The seven-day truce, brokered by Russia and the United States, is their second attempt this year by to halt Syria’s five-year-old civil war.
Russia is a major backer of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad, while the United States supports some of the rebel groups.
Eyewitnesss on both sides of divided second city Aleppo said the night had passed without opposition rocket fire into government-held areas or regime air strikes against rebel districts.
Residents remained out on the streets until midnight, taking advantage of the truce that went into force at sundown to celebrate the first day of Eid Al-Adha.
In the opposition-held central town of Talbisseh, which came under heavy fire in the run-up to the truce, activist Hassaan Abu Nuh said the regime bombardment had stopped.
“We usually stay up all night with the airplanes, but thank God last night we could all sleep,” he told AFP.
And in the largely rebel-held northwestern province of Idlib, where air strikes killed 13 people on Monday, an activist reported a quiet night too.
“This time, we were able to sleep well. Last night was amazing,” Nayef Mustafa said from the town of Salqin.
But he voiced skepticism about whether the truce would last beyond the initial 48-hour ceasefire, which is to be extended if it holds.
“People are only expecting it to stay calm for the holiday,” he said, referring to Eid.
US Secretary of State John Kerry told reporters in Washington it was “far too early to draw conclusions” about the success of the ceasefire, but said initial reports of the first two hours suggested “some reduction” in violence.
“I urge all the parties to support it because it may be the last chance that one has to save a united Syria,” he said.
Qatar welcomed the ceasefire in Syria, saying compliance would hasten a political solution and facilitate humanitarian help.
QNA said Qatar’s foreign ministry, in a statement on Monday evening, “expressed hope that the implementation of the agreement would contribute to reaching a comprehensive and permanent political settlement to end the Syrian crisis and lift the humanitarian suffering from the Syrian people ... .”
Qatar also urged world powers to ensure Syrian government forces implement the agreement.
