The cessation of hostilities in Syria that came into effect at sunset yesterday is holding well at the start of its second day today. UK-based monitoring group the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said it had recorded no civilian deaths in the first 15 hours of the truce. Residents in the embattled northern city of Aleppo reported calm. UN officials say they are waiting to deliver aid to besieged areas but need better guarantees of peace. <br/><br/>The Syrian army has said the truce will be applied throughout Syria for seven days, but that it reserves the right to respond decisively to any violation by armed groups. A number of rebel factions have given a guarded welcome to the deal but expressed reservations about its implementation.<br/><br/>Humanitarian groups are hoping to make aid deliveries to the worst-hit areas, especially the war-torn city of Aleppo. A UN spokesman said aid convoys were ready to travel in from Turkey but officials needed to see a laying down of weapons. Russian news agency Tass said that Russian troops had secured part of Castello Road – a key access route into Aleppo today, although this has not been confirmed. US Secretary of State John Kerry called on Friday for the road to be demilitarised and said the US would work with Russia to free the route for aid convoys.<br/><br/>The deal, described by Mr Kerry as the last chance to save a united Syria, was struck on Friday in Geneva after months of talks between Russia and the US. It requires both sides to allow unhindered access for humanitarian aid.

In Syria, a nationwide ceasefire brokered by the United States and Russia began at sundown on yesterday, coinciding with the Muslim Eid al-Adha holiday, but there are concerns about whether it will hold. Several hours into the ceasefire, the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said major conflict zones across the country were quiet.<br/><br/>The deal agreed to on Friday by US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, aims at putting an end to fighting and moving towards a political transition after more than five years of war between forces loyal to President Bashar al-Assad and rebel groups fighting to depose him. US Secretary of State John Kerry speaking at the State department in Washington, who helped broker the deal, warned it could be the last chance for peace in a united Syria.<br/><br/>Humanitarian groups are hoping to make aid deliveries to the worst-hit areas, especially the war-torn city of Aleppo. The truce does not apply to the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant, or Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, the group formerly known as Al-Nusra Front. The Syrian government, as well as Iran and the Lebanese Hezbollah armed group, two of its strongest allies, have all agreed to the deal, but rebel groups expressed serious concerns.