Forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad shot dead a civilian on Thursday in the central province of Hama, hours after a UN-backed ceasefire took effect, a monitoring group said.
The man was shot dead by either the regular armed forces or loyalist Shabiha militiamen outside the town of Mharadeh, said Rami Abdel Rahman of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Syria had said it would halt military operations against rebels at daybreak Thursday, the day set by the UN-Arab League peace envoy Kofi Annan as a deadline to implement a ceasefire aimed to end 13 months of bloodshed.
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