BEIRUT – Regions of Syria covered by a UN-brokered ceasefire Sunday enjoyed the “calmest day” since the truce started, a monitor said, as Moscow and Washington cautioned against any delay in resuming peace talks.
“Sunday was the calmest day since the ceasefire came into effect” on February 27, Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, told AFP.
He said the exceptions were dozens of rockets fired by Al-Nusra Front, that excluded from the truce, and other rebel factions at Kurdish forces in the far north of the city of Aleppo.
The violence killed at least nine people, the Observatory said in an updated toll, based on reports that it receives from a wide network of sources on the ground.
Heavy bombardment also struck territory held by Al-Nusra and the Islamic State group, another jihadist faction not covered by the truce.
Abdel Rahman said the average number of civilian deaths a day has fallen by 90 percent since the ceasefire came into force nine days ago, with an 80 percent decline among soldiers and rebel forces.
UN envoy Staffan de Mistura has said that peace talks between rebels and the Syrian regime are to resume on March 10.
Russia’s foreign ministry said US Secretary of State John Kerry and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in a telephone call on Sunday welcomed “the sharp decline in violence” and warned against “any delay in starting the process” of negotiations.

Source: AFP, 7 March 2016