Silence falls over the Turkish-Syrian border.<br/> <br />This Syrian outpost, manned with soldiers to prevent refugees from fleeing the country, was quiet as a ceasefire deadline passed early Thursday morning.<br/> <br />Activists in Hama, Homs and Damascus reported that the situation was calm, although there were reports of unidentified explosions in the town of Zabadani.<br/> <br />Syrian refugees in Turkey said they had little faith that President Bashar al-Assad would honour the ceasefire agreement.<br/> <br />(SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) SYRIAN REFUEE HUSEYIN KASIF:<br/> <br />"The ceasefire will not stay long. He has been promising to stop killing for a year but the killing increases. I don't think he will withdraw his tanks or his troops. He is just lying to the world. Whenever he says he will end the massacre, he kills more."<br/> <br />In Istanbul, Bassam Imadi of the Syrian National Council was also sceptical.<br/> <br />(SOUNDBITE) (English) SYRIAN NATIONAL COUNCIL MEMBER BASSAM IMADI:<br/> <br />"As soon as there is a real ceasefire, people will come out to the streets, demonstrating and demanding his removal, his stepping down. So I think the regime has to retaliate by opening fire again, but let's hope for the better."<br/> <br />The U.N. backed ceasefire is part of a plan agreed with international envoy Kofi Annan, aimed at ending more than a year of bloodshed in Syria.<br/> <br />The agreement also called for the withdrawal of tanks from urban centres, but according to activists this has yet to happen.<br/> <br />Simon Hanna, Reuters.
