Syria's army said Thursday it would halt all military operations from midnight under a truce deal brokered by Russia and Turkey and supported by a leading Syrian opposition body.

The agreement was announced earlier by Russian President Vladimir Putin who said the Syrian regime and "main forces of the armed opposition" had signed on.

"The general command of the armed forces announces a complete halt to all hostilities on Syrian territory from the zero hour of December 30th," Syria's army said in a statement carried on state television.

It said that the ceasefire excluded the Islamic State group and the former Al-Qaeda affiliate previously known as Al-Nusra Front, now rebranded the Fateh al-Sham Front.

The National Coalition, a leading Syrian political opposition group based in Turkey, confirmed its backing for the truce.

"The National Coalition expresses support for the agreement and urges all parties to abide by it," spokesman Ahmed Ramadan told AFP.

He said key rebel groups including the powerful Ahrar al-Sham and Army of Islam factions had signed the ceasefire deal, though there was no immediate confirmation from rebel representatives.

"The agreement includes a ceasefire in all areas held by the moderate opposition, or by the moderate opposition and elements from Fateh al-Sham, such as Idlib province," he told AFP.

Idlib, in northwest Syria, is controlled by an alliance of rebel groups led by Fateh al-Sham.

The group, in its previous incarnation as Al-Nusra, was designated a "terrorist" organisation by countries including the United States, as well as the United Nations.

The ceasefire agreement follows the recapture by Syria's government of the country's second city Aleppo from rebels, in the worst blow to opposition forces since the war began.

It will be the first nationwide halt in fighting since a week-long truce from September 12-19 that collapsed after several incidents of violence.

A previous truce was implemented in February. Both of those deals were organised by Russia and the United States.

The latest agreement is the first nationwide ceasefire brokered with the involvement of Turkey, a backer of the Syrian opposition.

Russia is a key supporter of Syria's President Bashar al-Assad and began a military intervention in support of his government in September 2015.

Despite backing opposing sides in the conflict, and a souring of relations after Turkey shot down a Russian warplane last year, Ankara and Moscow have worked increasingly closely on Syria.

They jointly brokered a ceasefire for Aleppo this month that allowed the last remaining rebels and civilians in the city's east to leave to opposition territory elsewhere.

More than 310,000 people have been killed in Syria since the conflict began in March 2011 with protests against Assad's government.

Successive bids to reach a peace deal to end the conflict have failed, but Moscow has said it is planning to convene new negotiations in Kazakhstan.

And the army statement said the ceasefire was intended to "create conditions to support the political track" in resolving the conflict.

Key dates since Russian intervention in Syria
Beirut (AFP) Dec 29, 2016 - Russia, which on Thursday announced a ceasefire deal and peace talks in Syria, has for more than a year carried out air strikes in support of President Bashar al-Assad's forces.

It is the first time that Russia has pursued major military operations abroad since Soviet troops withdrew from Afghanistan in 1989.

Here is a timeline of the Syrian operation:

- 2015: Start of Russian intervention -

- September 30, 2015: Russia, at the Damascus regime's request, launches air strikes on Syria, saying it has hit Islamic State group (IS) targets.

Russian President Vladimir Putin says Moscow must act pre-preemptively to destroy jihadists in Syria before they present a threat closer to home.

Syrian rebels and their overseas supporters accuse Moscow of targeting mostly non-jihadist groups to come to the aid of the Syrian army, which had suffered a series of resounding defeats since March 2015.

- Air strikes intensify -

- October 7: Moscow says that for the first time Russian warships in the Caspian Sea fleet joined in strikes in Syria with a volley of 26 cruise missile attacks against targets in Syria.

- December 9: Russia strikes Syria from a submarine deployed in the Mediterranean.

- Diplomatic offensive -

- October 20: Putin launches a diplomatic initiative and invites Assad to Moscow for a high-profile visit -- his first official trip abroad since Syria's conflict erupted in March 2011.

- From October 23: The US, Russian, Saudi and Turkish foreign ministers hold unprecedented talks in Vienna to try to find a way out of the Syrian crisis.

- November 14: After a first meeting on October 30, the big powers, including Russia, the United States, France, and for the first time Iran meet in Vienna where they agree on a fixed calendar for Syria but remain sharply at odds over the future of Assad.

- 2016: Regime forces retake territory -

- February 1, 2016: Syrian regime forces, backed by Russian air strikes and fighters from Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah, launch an offensive against rebels around the battleground northern city of Aleppo. Rebels lose stronghold after stronghold.

- March 14: Putin announces a partial withdrawal of Moscow's forces from Syria, but some 4,300 Russian troops remain deployed.

- June 18: Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu meets with Assad in Damascus to discuss anti-terrorist "cooperation" and inspects Russia's air base in Hmeimim in the Syrian coastal province of Latakia.

- Russia-Turkey reconciliation -

- August 9: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whose country backs the Syrian rebels, meets Putin in Saint Petersburg in a bid to heal ties, strained by the Syria conflict.

Tensions had soared in November 2015 between the two rival players in the Syria war when Turkey shot down a Russian warplane on the Syrian border, saying it had violated its airspace.

- 'Permanent' presence -

- August 16: Russia carries out strikes for the first time from the northwestern Iranian airbase at Hamedan.

- October 4: Moscow says it has deployed an S-300 advanced anti-air defence system at Tartus. An S-400 system was deployed in November 2015 at the Hmeimim airbase.

- October 14: Putin ratifies an agreement with Syria regarding the deployment "for an undetermined period" of Russian air forces at the Hmeimim base.

- November 15: Russia begins carrying out strikes from its only aircraft carrier, which is now in the Mediterranean.

- Moscow-Ankara pool forces -

- December 13: Russia and Turkey announce a ceasefire deal under which rebels and civilians would evacuate from war-ravaged eastern Aleppo.

- December 22: The regime declares it has full control of Aleppo, after the final convoy of civilians and rebel fighters left the last rebel pocket of the city.

- December 23: Putin calls Assad to congratulate him on Aleppo's "liberation". He signs an order to expand Russia's naval facility in Tartus. Moscow also says it has sent a battalion of military police to keep order in Aleppo.

- December 29: Putin announces a nationwide ceasefire deal to come into effect across Syria from midnight, after several meetings in Turkey between Russian envoys and rebel group representatives. He says the warring parties have agreed to sit down for peace talks, organised by Russia, Turkey and Iran.

He also says he will reduce Moscow's military contingent in Syria, but that Russia will continue to fight "terrorism" and maintain its support for the government in Damascus.