Vladimir Putin to hold talks on Syria today

British Prime Minister David Cameron, French President Francois Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel will discuss the ceasefire in Syria with Russ-ian President Vladimir Putin in a conference call on Friday which will be held by Krmelin, Downing Street said.

“Tomorrow is an opportunity for the leaders of the UK, France and Germany to come together... and make very clear to president Putin that we need this ceasefire to hold, to be a lasting one and to open the way for a real political transition,” Mr Cameron’s spokeswoman said on Thursday.

The truce that came into force at midnight on February 26 and was negotiated by the US and Russia is the first major cessation of hostilities in the five-year war in Syria that has claimed more than 2,70,000 lives.

Russia, a key ally of the regime of President Bashar al-Assad, has said it will carry on striking “terrorist groups” but non-jihadist Syrian rebels say Moscow has kept on bombarding other targets as well.

On Thursday, French President Francois Hollande and British Prime Minister David Cameron on called on Russia and the Syrian regime to “immediately stop attacks on the moderate Opposition”.

They urged Russia and the Syrian regime to stop attacks on medical sites as well as “their march on Aleppo, which is compromising peace and threatening to dramatically worsen the refugee crisis and benefit Daesh.”

Speaking in Parliam-ent on Wednesday, Mr Cameron said the ceasefire was “imperfect” but called it “an important step forward”.

Meanwhile, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that 24 civilians have been killed in the first five days of a landmark truce in parts of Syria, a sharp drop for a war where dozens die daily. “Compare that number to Friday, the day before the truce came into effect: 63 civilians, including 11 children, died that day alone,\" said Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman.

The UN envoy to Syria on Thursday said that the ceasefire has shown clear signs of progress, but warned there was no guarantee it would succeed.

“The situation... on the ground could be summarised as fragile. Success is not guaranteed, but progress has been visible,” Staffan de Mistura said in Geneva. “In general, the cessation has been holding,” he said, while acknowledging that “there are still a number of places where fighting has continued.”