DAMASCUS, March 6 (Xinhua) -- Calm has prevailed in the de-escalation zone in Syria's northwestern Idlib province on Friday after a Turkey, Russia-backed cease-fire went into effect at midnight, a war monitor reported.
Friday started with no airstrikes from Russian or Syrian warplanes in Idlib, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
The observatory added that 150 Turkish military vehicles entered Turkish observation points in Idlib on Friday, apparently as part of the Thursday's agreement with Russia.
Russia and Turkey agreed on a cease-fire in the de-escalation zone in Syria's Idlib on Thursday, after talks between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan which lasted for about six hours.
The cease-fire went into effect at 00:01 a.m. local time on Friday (2201 GMT Thursday), according to the protocol read after the talks by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
The agreement comes after direct confrontation between Turkey and Syrian forces which took place several times in Idlib over the past two months since the Syrian forces launched a campaign against the Turkey-backed rebel groups in Idlib.
The Syrian army started the operation in Idlib after Turkey failed to live up to previous pledges made during the Sochi agreement in 2018 between Russia and Turkey.
Under the previous deal, the rebels should have withdrawn from certain areas around the M5 and M4 highways in northern Syria.
Turkey was also supposed to disarm ultra-radical rebel groups in certain areas in Idlib, which didn't happen.
The current cease-fire is seen as a chance to quell the recent confrontation in Idlib, mainly to allow humanitarian help for Syrian refugees who left their areas during the recent military showdown.
However, it's not yet clear whether the current cease-fire would hold.
