DAMASCUS, Aug. 31 (Xinhua) -- The first few hours of the cease-fire in Syria's northwestern province of Idlib passed quietly early Saturday, a war monitor reported.
"Cautious calm" prevailed in the cease-fire zone after the truce went into effect at 06:00 a.m. local time (0300 GMT) Saturday, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
A day earlier, the Syrian army agreed to observe a cease-fire in Idlib, the last major rebel stronghold in the country, as of Saturday morning, state TV reported.
Citing the Syrian army, the TV report said the army reserves the right to respond to any violation by the rebels.
Hours ahead of the official Syrian announcement, Russia's Defense Ministry declared the cease-fire, noting that it is a "unilateral" move to stabilize the situation in Idlib. It urged the rebels to abandon armed provocations and join the peace process.
The announcement came a day after Mark Lowcock, the UN's emergency relief coordinator, called on the UN Security Council to take meaningful actions to protect the civilians in Idlib, where an estimated 3 million civilians live.
This is the second truce announced in Idlib this month. On Aug. 1, a Russian- and Turkish-backed cease-fire was reached but it quickly collapsed.
Since then, battles flared and the Syrian government forces were able to make notable gains, capturing key areas in the southern countryside of Idlib and the adjacent northern countryside of Hama province.
It's not clear if the new truce would hold, given the fact that the al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front was believed to be behind the failure of the previous cease-fire.
The new cease-fire aims at halting the fighting in Idlib between Syrian army and the al-Qaida-linked groups.
The countryside of Hama and the adjacent Idlib province are included in the de-escalation zone established by Russia and Turkey last September.
Under the deal, Turkish observation points were set up in some areas in Idlib and Hama. However, the deal failed to materialize as the Nusra Front refused to withdraw and fighting continued.
