The U.S. and Russian Federation would lead a task force for a “cessation of violence of hostilities”, according to U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry.
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While humanitarian access – to be discussed by a working group on Friday in Geneva – is key to relieving the suffering of millions of Syrians in the short term, a durable and lasting ceasefire will be required if stalled negotiations between Syrian President Bashar Assad’s government and the opposition are to resume on or before a U.N.-set target date of February 25.
Kerry started Thursday’s meeting with his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, and the two were scheduled to join other members of the so-called International Syria Support Group, a collection of 20 nations working on the conflict. But he said the ceasefire would not apply to the fight with jihadist groups IS and al-Nusra Front. Humanitarian access to towns and cities in Syria where food and medical supplies have been blocked, sometimes for months, is to begin immediately.
Speaking for the group, U.S. secretary of state John Kerry hailed the results but noted they were still “commitments on paper”.
As he has during the diplomatic process, Kerry appeared cautiously optimistic about the fragile agreement.
“This will be measured by what happens on the ground”, Kerry said. The U.S. countered with demands for an immediate stop to the fighting. By co-chairing the taskforce on ending hostilities together with Washington, the Kremlin has achieved what it has always wanted, namely being perceived as an equal to the United States on the worldwide stage, at least when it comes to Syria. “We’ll wait two days and see if all the promises they made are kept”, Salem al-Meslet, spokesman for a negotiating team appointed by the Syrian opposition to open U.N.-sponsored talks with the government, said before the agreement was announced. He added that he was “happy to see so much going on” but that “we’re also impatient”. Russian Federation is backing Assad, while the US wants the Syrian president to step aside and is aiding some rebel groups.
Also unclear is when – and if Russian Federation – will halt its airstrikes, for instance those taking place around Aleppo.
“A ceasefire, in the minds of many participants, connotes something far more permanent”, Kerry said in a news conference following the group’s meeting.
The talks would not include ISIS or an al-Qaida-affiliated group operating in Syria, but aim to get the government communicating with rebel groups.
A senior Russian diplomat says Moscow opposes plans to establish a “safe zone” along the Turkey-Syria border.
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Kerry bristled at the suggestion that by agreeing to the cessation of hostilities in the next week now he was acceding to Assad’s recent territorial gains, or setting the stage for Assad to create a rump Syrian state comprised major population centers. Details of what some diplomats called a less-formal “cessation of hostilities” have still not been firmed up. The defense ministry rejected accusations of targeting residential areas of Aleppo, arguing that the footage of the aftermath of the airstrikes there that Western media have been broadcasting was filmed long before Russian Federation began carrying out airstrikes in Syria last September. North Atlantic Treaty Organisation has always been part of the U.S.-led coalition in Afghanistan.
