Assad has evidently already made up his mind about he hopes to proceed – specifically, by pursuing his own “political-military objective” for winning the war, Fred Hof, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East and former adviser on Syria under the Obama administration, wrote last week for the Atlantic.
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Without the continued, indefinite and extremely costly backing of Russian air power, government forces may be too weak to maintain control.
“When Assad goes, the fertile environment which Daesh operates in Syria will be removed”.
Wang said the deal was a “positive and meaningful progress”. “Even if the cease-fire holds it does not mean the end of the Syrian war”.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has said that he plans to retake “the whole country”, despite a renewed effort from the global community to push for peace.
He added that he felt there was a risk Turkey and Saudi Arabia, major backers of the opposition, may decide to bring military intervention to Syria.
“Second, we have agreed to implement a nationwide cessation of hostilities to begin in a target of one week’s time”. If implemented, the cease-fire would be the first formally declared and sustained suspension of the fighting since the war started in 2011.
So far there has been no sign of the United Nations realising its hopes of delivering aid imminently to more besieged areas. “We must see action on the ground and if we see action and implementation we will see you soon in Geneva”.
Some of the vetted groups have received military training overseen by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency.
Initial reactions to the deal from within Syria were skeptical.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said a lasting peace would only be achieved if Russian Federation stopped bombing rebel forces. “I’m not optimistic”, Shehadeh said.
Separately, at least three civilians were killed while 20 others were injured in suspected Russian air strikes in the suburbs of the capital Damascus, the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported on Friday. The U.S. and its regional allies have blamed Russian bombardment of the rebels for worsening the humanitarian situation.
The latest numbing figures emerging from the long, bloody civil war show 470,000 dead and 4.4 million Syrians having fled the country, leading to an nearly overwhelming migrant crisis for neighboring countries and Europe.
He said the cessation would not apply to the Islamic State (IS) group and other militant groups fighting in Syria.
The U.S. and Russian Federation have “taken ownership of this now”.
“We’re going to try to give opportunities and power to… particularly Sunni Arabs in Syria who want to re-seize their territory back from ISIL, especially Raqqa”, Carter said after defense talks in Brussels.
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“The main result of today’s meeting, as I believe, is the unconditional confirmation of the Resolution 2254 in full”, Lavrov said. “Bombing won’t completely halt, but we will reduce the amount”. The powers reaffirmed long-standing commitments to a “political transition” in Syria once conditions allow.
