Syria ceasefire begins but reports of violations on both sides

Opposition urges Syrians to protest as ceasefire comes into effect A UN-backed ceasefire to end 13 months of bloodshed in Syria came into force at daybreak Thursday, despite scepticism about the regime's compliance with the peace plan.

The Syrian government accused "terrorists" of planting a roadside bomb that blew up in Aleppo on Thursday. One officer was killed and at least 24 cadets and officers were wounded in the attempt to “sabotage the current ceasefire”, state media said. “At eight in the morning a terrorist group targeted a bus carrying a number of officers driving to work in Aleppo,” the report said, as cited by Reuters. Civilians were reportedly among the wounded.
According to The Guardian live blog,  a few demonstrations have been reported, including in Idlib and Deraa.  Global activist group Avaaz said on Thursday that Syrian security forces violated the ceasefire in five areas. UK Prime Minister David Cameron has urged Russia and China to join the world in "tightening the noose" around the Syrian regime.  Speaking to BBC Radio 5 during his South East Asia trade mission this morning, Mr Cameron said: "I feel an immense sense of frustration because the world has come together behind this Kofi Annan plan.
This is a plan, remember, that is not just backed by those of us who have been pushing for action on Syria, it's also backed by China and Russia.
And yet Assad is deliberately flouting it. Now is the time to say to the Russians and Chinese, look at the man we are dealing with, look at the appalling way he is behaving."
A ceasefire brokered by Kofi Annan came into effect at 6:00am (0300 GMT) this morning.
Kofi Annan, the United Nations envoy and architect of the ceasefire proposal, said he had received a promise from Mr Assad's government that it would "cease all military fighting throughout Syrian territory" at 6am local time, in accordance with the plan.
Syrian state television read out a similar pledge. "After our armed forces completed successful operations in combating the criminal acts of the armed terrorist groups and enforced the state's rule over its territory, it has been decided to stop these operations from Thursday morning,"  Syria's government offered an amnesty to opposition gunmen without "blood on their hands," urging them to surrendersaying: "The interior ministry calls on gunmen whose hands have not been stained with Syrian blood to hand themselves in, along with their weapons, at the nearest police centre. They would be released and all legal procedures against them would be terminated," it said, quoted by state television.
The deadline passed without bloodshed this morning, with the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reporting that the situation was "calm" an hour after the ultimatum.
A "few explosions" were heard in the town of Zabadani, just outside the capital, shortly after the ceasefire entered into effect, Abdel Rahman of the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said to AFP in Beirut.
China welcomed Syria's decision to uphold a "comprehensive ceasefire" describing it as a step towards a political solution, as Russia called for more time for the peace plan to work.
And the opposition urged people to take advantage of the ceasefire and stage demonstrations against the regime of President Bashar al-Assad.
After breaking a commitment to pull back forces from population centres by Tuesday under the agreement brokered by Annan, there were still no signs of a withdrawal, monitors said.
Activists in Damascus, Hama, and Daraa reported that calm has prevailed since the ceasefire deadline.
The reports could not be verified due to the Damascus government's curbs on media.
"The test will be tomorrow, when demonstrators take to the streets" after the Muslim Friday prayers, a traditional high point for protests, said activist Muaz from Damascus.
Just hours before the deadline expired at 6:00 am (0300 GMT), the military unleashed a lethal offensive against protest centres, killing 25 civilians on Wednesday, including 10 in the rebel stronghold of Rastan, said the Observatory.
That was the same day that Annan, serving as a peace envoy for the UN and the Arab League, said he received a letter from Syria promising to "cease all military fighting throughout Syrian territory as of 6:00 am."
But the letter reserved the right "to respond proportionately to any attacks carried out by armed terrorist groups," a phrase Assad's government uses to describe opposition forces.
US President Barack Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel agreed in a telephone call that the UN Security Council, which gave its blessing to Annan's plan, needed to "take more resolute action" on Syria.
The United Nations estimates more than 9,000 people have been killed since March 2011 as Assad's forces crush the latest in a series of uprisings against authoritarian leaders in the Arab world.
Susan Rice, the US envoy to the United Nations, said Assad's regime has in fact intensified violence since it first committed to Annan's six-point plan on April 1.
"Its commitments therefore have little, if any, credibility ... given that track record," Rice said.
Annan's plan calls for the withdrawal of forces from urban areas, a halt to fighting, a daily two-hour humanitarian truce, the release of arbitrarily detained people, freedom of movement for journalists and the right to demonstrate.
The opposition Syrian National Council said both it and the rebel Free Syrian Army, a ragtag force of mainly army defectors, were committed to the truce but also voiced doubts about the regime's commitment.
SNC chief Burhan Ghalioun called on people to demonstrate "because the right to demonstrate is a principle point of the plan of Annan," he said.
Ahead of the ceasefire, foreign ministers of the Group of Eight major industrial powers met in Washington for talks on Syria and other global crises, with both Britain and France pressing for monitors to verify any eventual ceasefire.
French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe called for the Security Council to seek a "robust observers force" that would verify compliance and "could move freely" without interference from Assad's regime.
British Foreign Secretary William Hague warned his government would boost support for Syria's opposition and seek further sanctions if Assad does not comply with the ceasefire.
"Our pressure on the regime -- its campaign of murder, torture and oppression -- must be intensified if Kofi Annan has not succeeded," Hague told reporters after the first day of the two-day talks.
On Thursday, Annan is to brief the Security Council by video link from Geneva, in what diplomats said would be key to the world body's next steps.
Russia has historically been the top supporter of Assad, and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had said she would press Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov over Syria during the G8 talks.
Lavrov said some Arab and Western states had written off Annan's peace plan as a failure even before it had gone into effect and called on them to use their influence with the rebels to avoid future unrest.
In Beijing, foreign ministry spokesman Liu Weimin said Syria's commitment to the ceasefire "will help ease the tense situation in Syria, and is an important step towards a political solution."
Moscow, which along with China vetoed two Security Council resolutions that would have tightened the screws on Assad, has championed the Annan peace plan but also sought pressure against the Syrian opposition.
Western governments argue a ceasefire alone is not enough and that the Damascus regime must withdraw its troops from towns and cities.