Syrian President Bashar al-Assad promised Thursday to honor a newly-clinched ceasefire agreement in a phone conversation with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, according to the Kremlin.

The Syrian government and the core groups of the so-called moderate opposition reached a ceasefire agreement and expressed their readiness to start intra-Syrian talks on Thursday.

The Syrian army then declared that a nationwide cessation of hostilities will go into effect as of midnight Friday.

Both the Russian and Syrian leaders hailed the agreement and the transition to a political process, which were mediated by Russia and Turkey, the Kremlin said in a statement.

Putin and al-Assad also agreed to launch the intra-Syrian talks in the Kazakh capital of Astana, which they believed to be an important step towards the resolution of the crisis, it added.

Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyp Erdogan have agreed to facilitate talks between Syria's conflicting sides in Astana, which has also been supported by Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev and the United Nations special envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura.

source: Xinhua