ISLAMABAD – Pakistan on Saturday welcome the agreement reached between Russia and the United States for a nationwide cessation of hostilities in Syria.
“Pakistan has always maintained a principled position on Syria based on neutrality, impartiality and respect of territorial integrity and sovereignty of Syria. We, however, remain concerned on the humanitarian crisis and the urgent need to address the refugee crisis,” Foreign Office spokesperson Nafees Zakaria said.
Guns fell silent across Syria on Saturday after a landmark United Nations-backed ceasefire came into effect, as a special task force led by rivals Moscow and Washington prepared to begin monitoring the fledgling truce.
A journalist said that the northern city of Aleppo – where rebels and the regime typically fire at each other across an active front line – was silent at dawn. Residents said that if the lull in fighting held through the afternoon, they would take their children to small parks in their neighbourhoods.
To the southeast, government forces continued to fight the Islamic State group – which along with other militant groups was excluded from the truce deal agreed by world powers – according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman said there were also intermittent clashes in the coastal province of Latakia between government forces and militants.
The central provinces of Homs and Hama, where Russian bombardment had been intense, were largely calm. In Damascus, AFP correspondents said it was quiet across the city and its eastern suburbs, without the typical sounds of shelling or plumes of smoke.
More than 270,000 people have been killed since Syria’s uprising broke out in March 2011.
