Turkey, Iran help broker rare truce in Syria

Syria's warring parties declared a 48-hour cease-fire in a frontline area on Wednesday after a month of unprecedented mediation from Turkey and Iran, signaling a new approach by some regional powers backing opposing sides in the conflict.

The cease-fire halted fighting between anti-government rebels on one side and the Syrian army and its Lebanese Hezbollah allies on the other in the rebel-held town of Zabadani, as well as two government-held Shia villages in Idlib province.

"A cease-fire began at 6 a.m. today for 48 hours to halt military operations in Zabadani," Hezbollah's al-Manar TV reported. "It also includes the two villages of Al-Foua and Kefraya in the Idlib countryside."

The two areas are strongholds of each side under ferocious attack by the other, meaning both could benefit from a cease-fire by evacuating civilians and combatants.

According to the U.K.-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the cease-fire was agreed upon between the Lebanese-based group Hezbollah, which is supporting the Syrian government, and the Nusra Front-aligned group Ahrar al-Sham.

Three officials close to Damascus described the temporary cease-fire as a result of mediation by Turkey, which backs rebels fighting against President Bashar al-Assad, and Iran, whose support has been vital to his survival.

It was among the strongest signs yet of a new regional approach toward a conflict that has killed a quarter of a million people, made 10 million homeless, left swathes of Syria in the hands of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) and divided the countries of the Middle East on sectarian grounds.

After four years in which international diplomacy made no headway toward peace, countries that support Assad and his opponents have been quietly discussing ways to end the war and tackle the common threat from ISIL. But Assad's fate remains a major obstacle to the new diplomatic effort. 

The Iranian foreign minister was due in Damascus later on Wednesday and expected to discuss a new peace plan for Syria.

A Hezbollah spokesperson told Al Jazeera that negotiations on the cease-fire had been taking place for the past 10 days and the U.N.'s special envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, was involved.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the cease-fire would allow buses to carry the Ahrar Al-Sham fighters to retreat from Zabadani and aid to be delivered to civilians in all of the towns.

Zabadani, about 30 miles northwest of the capital Damascus and just a few miles from the border with Lebanon, has been the focus of a weeks-long offensive by the army and Hezbollah aimed at wresting control of the town from rebels.

The two Shia villages of Al-Foua and Kefraya, meanwhile, have been targeted in a parallel offensive by an insurgent alliance that includes both the hardline Ahrar Al-Sham and the local Al-Qaeda affiliate, the Nusra Front.

Mistura said last month that government airstrikes had caused widespread death and destruction in Zabadani, and expressed concern that civilians were trapped both there and in the two Shia villages.

Al Jazeera and Reuters