World hails Syria truce

World leaders hailed "real progress" in Syria yesterday, but fresh air strikes showed the fragility of the week-old truce and the many obstacles still in the way of peace talks.

Warplanes struck a key rebel bastion east of the Syrian capital for the first time since the fragile truce began last weekend, a monitor said.

"Two air strikes hit the edge of the town of Douma in Eastern Ghouta and one person was killed," said Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

He said the strikes were conducted by either Syrian or Russian planes.

Eastern Ghouta, the largest rebel bastion east of Damascus, was regularly and fiercely bombarded by government forces, but has been relatively calm since the ceasefire brokered by the United States and Russia.

"This cessation of hostilities is by no means perfect but it has reduced the level of violence, it has created an opportunity for some humanitarian access," said British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond after meeting with his French, German and EU counterparts in Paris.

The group said the focus now was on convincing all parties to return to UN-brokered peace talks in Switzerland.

The group also met with Riad Hijab, head of Syria's main opposition body, the High Negotiations Committee which has expressed scepticism that the regime will stick to the truce.

"We've encouraged Dr Hijab, whatever his reservations, to be prepared to return to the discussions in Geneva," said Hammond.

However, a top Syrian opposition official said that "conditions are not ripe" for a resumption of peace talks set for March 9. Hijab also said he see no place for Assad in the transition process of Syria.

Meanwhile Denmark yesterday said it would commit F-16 warplanes to the fight against Islamic State in Syria and 400 military personnel to fight the jihadist group in Iraq.The Danish contribution, which also includes a transport aircraft, would be available from mid-2016.

In a new positive sign for peace, although al-Qaeda's wing in Syria has rejected an international effort to halt nearly five years of conflict, its fighters have laid low, careful not to jeopardise the fragile agreement that has slowed if not entirely stopped the war.

Like Islamic State, the al Qaeda wing known as the Nusra Front is excluded from the US-Russian "cessation of hostilities" agreement.