DAMASCUS: Calm followed a night of fierce clashes across Syria on Friday morning after the army and main rebel force fighting to oust Bashar al-Assad's regime agreed to down arms for a four-day Muslim holiday.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said fighting had taken place nationwide overnight, including in the Damascus area, in Syria's commercial capital Aleppo and in the centre of the country near the border with Lebanon.
But as the ceasefire took effect with morning prayers kicking off the Eidul Azha holiday marking the end of the Hajj pilgrimage, the Observatory said there were no reports of violence.
Syrian state television showed President Assad attending morning prayers at a mosque in Damascus, smiling and seeming relaxed as he chatted with other worshippers.
Regime forces and the Free Syrian Army (FSA) said Thursday they would follow UN-Arab League peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi's call for the temporary ceasefire, but both reserved the right to respond to any aggression.
If the ceasefire holds it would be the first real breakthrough in halting -- even temporarily -- the 19-month conflict that rights groups say has killed more than 35,000 people in Syria.
In Aleppo, residents were sceptical the truce would hold but the relative lull saw families returning to bombed out homes on the front line to recover possessions and inspect the damage.
"He's a cheater," spat Abu Ali, an electrician and father of four, when asked if he believed Assad would abide by the truce.
"Nobody believes him. He'll give you a promise then do whatever he wants," he snapped en route to collecting his children's winter clothes from his home in Salaheddin, a bastion of rebel support in Aleppo heavily damaged by fighting.
The ceasefire was backed this week by the United Nations Security Council and a spokesman for UN chief Ban Ki-moon said Thursday that "the world is now watching" to ensure both sides stick by their commitment.
The conflict between began in March 2011 with pro-reform protests inspired by the Arab Spring, but is now a civil war pitting mainly Sunni rebels against Assad's regime dominated by his minority Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shiite Islam.
The United States also expressed hope the ceasefire will be respected.
"What we are hoping and expecting is that they will not just talk the talk of ceasefire, but that they will walk the walk, beginning with the regime," US State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said.
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