DAMASCUS, Aug. 2 (Xinhua) -- The cease-fire that went into force on Thursday night in Syria's northwestern province of Idlib was reported to have been violated despite the absence of airstrikes and direct battles, activists and state media said Friday.

The rebels started the day with firing shells on government areas in the countryside of Latakia Province near Idlib, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

The Syrian forces also fired 50 shells and missiles on Friday on areas in the northern countryside of Hama Province in central Syria near Idlib, the London-based watchdog added.

The state news agency SANA also reported the rebels' violations, saying they bombarded the government-controlled areas in the countryside of Latakia.

Meanwhile, a Syrian military commander told Xinhua in the northern countryside of Hama that the Syrian soldiers abided by the cease-fire as instructed on Thursday night.

"After we received the cease-fire order ... the Syrian army's personnel abided by the order but ... continued observation in case of any violation in this region by the armed groups," he said.

In northern Hama, the Syrian soldiers appeared to have put aside the artillery and guns as the cease-fire went into force, according to video footage obtained by Xinhua.

Idlib, as well as surrounding countryside areas of Latakia and Hama, are included in the de-escalation zones' deal supervised by Russia and Turkey in September last year.

The deal included cease-fire and withdrawal of ultra-radical rebel groups from certain areas around Idlib.

However, the deal didn't materialize and battles renewed in April.

On Thursday evening, the Syrian army said a new cease-fire would go into force in the evening.

The army required the rebels to withdraw 20 km in depth of Idlib in exchange for the cease-fire to take effect.

The conditional cease-fire is the result of the 13th round of Syrian talks in Kazakhstan's capital Nur-Sultan.

According to the final statement released on Friday after the two-day talks in Nur-Sultan, the parties agreed to implement the agreement reached last September in the Russian resort city of Sochi, which calls for the retreat of the rebels 20 km in depth of Idlib.

The rebels were also required to withdraw their heavy weapons from the front lines.

The two-day talks were attended by Bashar Jaafari, the Syrian permanent representative at the United Nations, and Ahmad Tuma who led the opposition delegation.

Turkish, Iranian and Russian delegations also attended the talks as the three countries are the guarantors of all rounds of talks that have taken place in Kazakhstan.

Several Turkey-backed rebel groups are located in the province near the Turkish border, but the most powerful group there is the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the umbrella group of the al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front.

For the Syrian army, securing Idlib would almost deliver a definite defeat to the over eight-year insurgency against the administration of President Bashar al-Assad.

Idlib is strategically important as it shares a border area with Turkey to the north, while being close to the coastal province of Latakia, hometown of Assad that contains a Russia-run air base repeatedly targeted by rebel drones launched from Idlib.

The capital city of Idlib also lies close to the international road linking the capital Damascus with Aleppo Province in northern Syria.

Around 3 million people are living in Idlib, including those evacuated from many other areas during the surrender of the rebels. Enditem

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