Peace in Syria

A ceasefire has come to an effect following the expiration of the deadline in Syria. A peace plan was proposed by UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan to bring an end to more than a year-long uprising in Syria. Though there were no reports of violence since 06:00 (03:00GMT), western countries have still expressed their concerns over the intentions of the Syrian regime. Syria has said it would abide by the ceasefire but reserved the right to respond to attacks. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported the sound of explosions in the town of Zabadani, close to the border with Lebanon, shortly after the 6 a.m. (0300 GMT) deadline expired, but said it was not clear what had caused the blasts. A resident of the town said there had been shelling of the town overnight, but that she heard nothing after the deadline. Other activists in the cities of Hama, Homs and Damascus said the situation was calm. Syria s Defence Ministry said on Wednesday it would halt operations on Thursday morning, but made no mention of an army pullback from cities and said it would confront "any assault" by armed groups. Attacks on opposition neighbourhoods over the last week have fuelled doubts it would comply with the truce. None of the activists said they had seen any sign of tanks pulling back from urban centres, one of the points Syria agreed to under the ceasefire.