Standing by Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov after a day of marathon talks in Geneva, Kerry said he believed the plan would lead to talks to “stop the conflict”.
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But agreement depends on Moscow’s ability to persuade its ally, Syrian president Bashar Al Assad, to cease offensive operations, and Washington convincing anti-Assad rebels – which the U.S. supports – to stop co-operating with extremist groups such as Al Qaeda.
The United States and Russian Federation agreed on a plan to impose a renewed cease-fire in the Syrian civil war and lay the foundation for a peace process, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on September 9.
Kerry says the deal clinched with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov could be a “turning point” for the conflict, if implemented.
Documents outlining the specifics of the agreement were not released, and Lavrov said at a news conference that they would be withheld to prevent terrorist targets from anticipating attacks against them.
President Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed the proposed deal during talks last weekend in China. The arrangement hinges on Moscow pressuring Assad’s government to halt all offensive operations against Syria’s armed opposition in specific areas, which were not detailed.
Washington would have to persuade the anti-Assad rebels it supports to end any coordination with al Qaida and other extremist groups.
The agreement would involve a joint center to share initial information and delineate territories controlled by opposition groups as part of the broader peace effort, Kerry said.
“Our own goal is to try to settle the remaining issues that we have in reaching an agreement”, State Department spokesman Mark Toner said on Thursday as Mr Kerry weighed the trip.
A senior USA administration official said Kerry was discussing the proposals with colleagues in Washington. “It is profoundly in the interests of the United States”. “We will be watching closely the implementation of this understanding in the days ahead”.
Mr Lavrov spoke to journalists in a clear attempt to put pressure on the United States for an answer. Earlier this week, U.S. Defense Secretary Aston Carter appeared reluctant to work side-by-side with the Russian military, citing its invasion of Ukraine and its aggressive behavior around Europe as just two examples.
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The Geneva negotiating session, which lasted more than 13 hours, underscored the complexity of a conflict that includes myriad militant groups, shifting alliances and the rival interests of the USA and Russia, Saudi Arabia and Iran, and Turkey and the Kurds. And the task may be getting even more hard as fighting rages around the divided city of Aleppo, Syria’s most populous and the new focus of the conflict. Meanwhile fighting rages on around the divided city of Aleppo, where almost 700 civilians, including 160 children, have died in the last 40 days. They must now pull back from demilitarized zones, and allow civilian traffic and humanitarian deliveries – notably into Aleppo. “If Aleppo continues to be torn apart, the prospects for Syria” are doomed, Kerry said. Russian Federation could, in theory, threaten to act against rebel groups that break the deal.
