It would then go into effect 12 hours later. Turkey has in the past few weeks been shelling the group known as the People’s Protection Units, or YPG, in northern Syria.
Advertisement
“Tomorrow is going to be a very important, I will say a crucial day”, the UN’s Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura told reporters at the UN’s European headquarters in Geneva Thursday.
There are serious doubts that the ceasefire will hold or be jointly enforceable by the US and Russian Federation because of complex alliances in the opposition and the way in which terrorist groups are intertwined with legitimate opposition forces.
President Barack Obama hosts meeting of his National Security Council (NSC) at the State Department in Washington, Thursday, Feb. 25, 2016.
Syria’s main opposition umbrella group said that it was ready for a two-week truce to test the government’s commitment to the plan.
Daesh and al-Qaeda’s Syrian affiliate, the Nusra Front, are excluded from the agreement.
Turkey’s role in the ceasefire has been complicated by its deep distrust of the Washington-backed Syrian Kurdish YPG. In New York, diplomats said the U.N. Security Council would vote on Friday on an resolution endorsing the planned pause in fighting.
“The main goal is to stop the bloodletting in Syria”, he said.
“Everybody knows what needs to happen”, Obama said, welcoming a partial ceasefire that has ravaged Syria for 5 years, killing 270,000 people and displacing more than half of the population. It will meet for the first time on Friday and be chaired jointly by Russian Federation and the United States.
The opposition fears the government will attack rebels on the pretext they are jihadists.
Syria’s state news agency said two journalists working for state TV were wounded when they came under fire from militants in the Damascus suburbs of Daraya.
Meanwhile, the Saudi-backed Syrian opposition High Negotiations Committee (HNC) also announced that it would temporarily adhere to the truce. “In any case, it should not be put on the Syrian government, which has agreed on the Russian-American initiative”.
Decrying Russian President Vladimir Putin’s insertion of military forces into the conflict, which are aiding Moscow ally Assad, Obama again demanded that the Syrian leader relinquish power in order for peace to return to Syria. He did not provide details as to how many aircraft have arrived so far.
The advance comes ahead of a cease-fire meant to start on midnight Friday.
The Kremlin has denied allegations that Russia’s air force bombed civilian positions east of Damascus on the eve of the ceasefire.
It is not the first time that the government’s supply route to Aleppo has been cut. Also, it is made more fragile because it allows fighting to continue against the Islamic State group and the Nusra Front, al-Qaida’s branch in the country – which could easily re-ignite broader warfare.
Advertisement
Russian Federation said that King Salman, who is supporting rebel groups fighting Assad, “welcomed” the truce and voiced a “willingness to work with Russia” to implement it.
