Ceasefire in Syria comes into effect

A ceasefire in Syria came into effect at 6:00 am (0300 GMT) in line with an ultimatum set by UN/Arab League envoy Kofi Annan aimed at ending violence that has killed thousands over more than a year.

The Syrian regime, which has carried out bloody repression of protesters, promised it would end its military operations on Thursday morning but warned its forces would reply to any "terrorist" attack, a reference to the rebels who have said they would respect the ultimatum if Damascus did so.

Meanwhile, activists say a deadline for a U.N.-brokered cease-fire has passed without reports of major violence, just hours after Syria promised to observe the halt in fighting.

The truce deadline was 6 a.m. on Thursday.

But there were only dim hopes for an abrupt end to the bloodshed. Syria has backtracked on previous peace plans and has characterised the uprising it's facing as a terrorist plot.

The Britain-based Observatory of Human Rights, an activist group, says some shots were fired in a Damascus neighbourhood after midnight Wednesday and that an explosion went off in a car in a Damascus suburb, causing no injuries.

Obama and Merkel agree on need for UN action

US President Barack Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel agreed in a telephone call on Wednesday that "more resolute" UN Security Council action was needed on Syria, the White House said.

The call took place amid accelerating international diplomacy hours before a ceasefire deadline set by Kofi Annan for an end to 13 months of operations against Syrian rebels by President Bashar Al Assad's forces.

"The President and Chancellor shared the concern that the Assad government was not complying with the terms of the agreement negotiated by Kofi Annan and continued to engage in unacceptable brutality against its own people," a White House statement said.

"They agreed that this underscored the need for the UN Security Council to come together to take more resolute action."

UN envoy Annan said he had received a written pledge from Damascus that regime forces would halt their operations from dawn, provided they did not come under attack.

But the opposition and foreign governments said there was no sign of compliance on the ground by the regime as its forces again pounded protest centres, killing 14 civilians on Wednesday, according to monitors.

France seeks UN observers

France wants to send UN observers to monitor a ceasefire in Syria to verify whether both sides are adhering to the terms of a peace plan, French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said on Wednesday.

"France wants... the UN Security Council to be able to adopt as quickly as possible a resolution to send a robust observer force on the ground," Juppe said after Group of Eight talks in Washington.

He said the mission, which would "verify the parties' compliance with their commitments on the ground," should "be able to move freely" and "not depend on the Damascus regime."

Kofi Annan, the UN and Arab League special envoy, was to address the Security Council at 1400 GMT Thursday by videoconference from Geneva, and assess whether President Bashar Al Assad and opposition forces have ended combat, as agreed, from 0300 GMT.

Juppe acknowledged he had "extremely limited confidence" in Syria's commitment to respecting the ceasefire.

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