Cease-fire brings relative quiet to parts of Syria

Associated Press

BEIRUT

A cease-fire brought relative quiet to parts of Syria for the first time in years Saturday, offering civilians rare respite from Russian and Syrian government airstrikes despite some limited breaches of the agreement brokered by Washington and Moscow.

Fighting continued against the Islamic State group, which launched a surprise offensive on a northern town and carried out a suicide truck bombing in central Syria. The extremist group, along with al-Qaida’s branch in Syria, the Nusra Front, is not party to the cease-fire, which went into effect at midnight.

The cease-fire marks the most ambitious international attempt yet to reduce violence in the devastating conflict, which has killed more than 250,000 people, wounded a million and generated one of the worst refugee crises since World War II.

There were numerous violations of the cease-fire Saturday, but the level of violence was markedly down nationwide, giving hope to war-weary civilians across the country.

“Today we woke up and it was calm, stable. And even in the street ... it was complete calm, said Loris Atwah, a 65-year-old resident of Damascus.

“We pray to God that the cease-fire will continue,” said Ragheb Bashir Ali, 22.