Two key opposition-controlled areas near Syria's capital were relatively calm on Tuesday after appeals by Russia for a temporary freeze in fighting there, a monitor and an activist told AFP.
Fierce fighting had been rocking the besieged opposition-held town of Daraya, southwest of Damascus, and in Eastern Ghouta, a large rebel bastion east of the capital. But clashes subsided in both by Tuesday morning, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group.
"It has been quiet in both areas since dawn," Observatory head Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP.