Theater for several months of a fierce battle and a serious humanitarian crisis, the Idleb region experienced a rare lull, Friday March 6, the day after a truce agreement in the north-west of Syria where Damascus attempts to recapture areas beyond its control.

The ceasefire, which took effect at midnight (10 p.m. GMT), was concluded on Thursday between Russia - support from Damascus - and Turkey, which supports rebel groups.

While Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad said he was "satisfied" on Friday, according to a press release by his presidency, Washington announced its opposition to the adoption of a UN Security Council declaration supporting this agreement, deeming it "premature".

The truce continued during the day, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (OSDH) and AFP correspondents.

"Total absence of war planes"

OSDH Director Rami Abdel Rahmane underlined "the complete absence of Russian warplanes and the regime in Idleb airspace", despite intermittent clashes and exchanges of fire during the first three Friday hours, at night.

These clashes killed six Syrian soldiers and at least nine among the jihadists of the Islamic Party of Turkestan (TIP), whose members belong mainly to the Uighur Muslim minority in China.

In Damascus, the official news agency Sana said that "calm reigned" over the entire region.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan reached a ceasefire agreement after a marathon meeting in Moscow on Thursday.

The truce must put an end to violence that has killed nearly 500 civilians, according to the OSDH, and has made nearly a million displaced since the start, in December, of a new Damascus offensive in the region, according to the UN.

"No trust at all"

According to Thursday's agreement, Russia and Turkey will organize joint patrols from March 15 on a large portion of the M4 motorway, a crucial axis for Damascus, connecting Aleppo (north) to Latakia (west) via the Idleb region.

But the people of Idleb are skeptical to say the least. A previous agreement concluded between Ankara and Moscow in September 2018 providing for the establishment of a "demilitarized" zone to avoid a new Damascus offensive has remained a dead letter.

Dozens of people demonstrated in the locality of Kafr Takharim (north-west of Idleb) against the agreement, which they say does not provide for the return of the displaced, said an AFP correspondent on the spot .

Triggered on March 15, 2011 by pro-democracy protests, the Syrian conflict has killed more than 380,000 people and has become more complex over the years, with the involvement of multiple regional and international actors.

With AFP

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