Truce as silver lining in Syria's path to peace

Shrouded by flames and blood for nearly five years, Syria now catches a break for a long-awaited truce, fragile but a silver lining in its path to peace.

Ceaseless conflicts have battered the country, leaving over 250, 000 people dead and half of its 23 million population away from home, which dragged its neighbors and the world into unprecedented predicament.

The Russia-U.S.-backed cessation of hostilities plan has gone into effect at midnight last Friday in all Syrian cities, the first step of the political solution.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Tuesday described the truce as a glimmer of hope, adding that his troops have refrained from retaliating to the rebels breaches.

Tranquility without roars of shells and blusts prevailed the capital Damascus and the surroundings, the moment the truce came true.

Sporadix clashes amid long-awaited truce

The government and nearly 130 rebel groups have agreed to the cease-fire, excluding the al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front and the Islamic State (IS) group, as both have been designated as terrorist organizations by the UN.

Battles continued in Aleppo and the provinces of Latakia, Idlib, Hama and Homs, all the places the IS and Nusra controlled or frequently appeared in.

Kurdish fighters of the People's Protection Units (YPG) and the Kurdish-backed Syria Democratic Forces (SDF), which are fighting the IS in northeastern Syria, said they will respect the cease-fire, but their war on the IS will continue.

At the first hours of the truce a week ago, several mortar shells slammed into the capital, causing no casualties, and at least two people were killed when a car bomb went off in the central province of Hama.

Sixty artillery rounds of Turkish artillery on Monday hit the IS targets to the north of Aleppo as part of the U.S.-led coalition's operation against the jihadist group.

Turkish fire wounded a group of foreign journalists near the borders on Tuesday, injuring four who were covering the cessation of hostilities in northern Latakia.

On Wednesday, gunfire was reported in the town of Madaya in the northern countryside of Damascus, without any reported casualties.

Refugees, a concern for all

Over four million Syrian refugees have flocked into the neighboring Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan, as well as Europe, which has been overwhelmed by the refugee wave.

Jordan last Sunday called on the World Bank for more support as refugees now take up one third of the country's population, nearly half from Syria that amounted to about 1.3 million.

Lebanon's Vice Prime Minister Genran Bassil stressed Lebanon deserved more international help as the country has accommodated about 1.1 million Syrians who have fled their war-torn country.

As of Feb. 15, Turkey had started to give permission to Syrian refugees to work in the country so as to stop them from going to European countries.

With more than 2.5 million refugees, the most in the world, Turkey is determined to stop the illegal flow of refugees from its territory to European countries.

Turkey will meet the EU's 28 leaders on March 7 for a wide-ranging summit on the worst refugee and migrant crisis facing Europe since World War II. Enditem