Syria fighting largely halts as ceasefire begins

Fighting appeared to stop across most areas of western Syria on Saturday after a cessation of hostilities came into effect under a U.S.-Russian plan which warring sides in the five-year conflict have committed to.

A monitoring group and the United Nations reported only isolated fire in western Syria after the cessation began at midnight on Saturday. The United Nations said incidents in Damascus and Deraa within the first minutes of the temporary ceasefire had quickly calmed down.

Damascus and its ally Russia, as well as a range of insurgent groups fighting against them, had said they would commit to the plan.

The truce does not apply to Islamic State and al Qaeda affiliate the Nusra Front, and the Syrian government and Moscow have said they will not halt combat against those militants.

The United Nations unanimously demanded late on Friday that all parties to the conflict comply with the terms of the plan, urging the government and opposition to resume talks and renewing calls to end a war that has killed more than 250,000 people and driven 11 million from their homes.

Fighting had raged across much of western Syria right up until the agreement came into effect, the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.Shortly after midnight, there was calm in many parts of the country, it said.

"In Damascus and its countryside... for the first time in years, calm prevails," Observatory director Rami Abdulrahman said.

"In Latakia, calm, and at the Hmeimim air base there is no plane activity," he said in reference to the Latakia base where Russia's warplanes operate from.

In the northern city of Aleppo some gunfire had been heard shortly after midnight, and there were some blasts heard in northern Homs province, but it was not clear what had caused them, he said.