The U.S. officials accompanying Kerry to Geneva said they couldn’t guarantee an agreement Friday and more talks may be needed.
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The truce is due to take hold at sunset on Monday, at the start of the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha. After Lavrov said the Syrian government pledged to abide by the cease-fire, Kerry said Assad must be “prepared to live by these agreements, which is critical”.
If there is a true cessation of hostilities, Kerry said, Russian Federation and the United States will work together to conduct military strikes against the al-Qaeda-linked Nusra group – an unlikely alliance between two geopolitical foes.
State news agency SANA said the Syrian government accepts the agreement, adding that hostilities will stop in the northern city of Aleppo, the country’s largest, for “humanitarian reasons”. “We will do our part”, she said.
According to the details spelled out in Geneva, after seven consecutive days of calm and the delivery of humanitarian aid, the United States and Russian Federation will start working on a plan to carry out coordinated air attacks against terrorist groups – notably the former al-Qaida affiliate previously known as Nusra as well as the Islamic State.
In a speech this week in Britain, U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter accused Russian Federation of sowing seeds of global instability and questioned whether Moscow genuinely wants a viable cease-fire in Syria.
The report from Damascus came on Saturday a day after the United States and Russian Federation reached a breakthrough in the deal.
(Why the U.S.is supporting allies, even allies of convenience, of al-Qaeda 15 years after 9/11 I’ll never understand; apparently you’d have to ask John Brennan at the CIA).
Kerry said if all sides follow the parameters of the plan, it could be a “turning point” for Syrians and lead to a possible political resolution. -Russian mistrust. Obama spoke of it a week ago after meeting Putin in China. -Russian interaction has upset several leading national security officials in Washington, including Defense Secretary Ash Carter and National Intelligence Director James Clapper, and Kerry only appeared at the news conference after several hours of internal USA discussions.
“After six years of fighting it is time to bring an end to the conflict in Syria and we hope this ceasefire can provide parties with the space to do this”, Mr McCully says.
Assad’s government appeared to tighten its siege of the former Syrian commercial hub on Thursday, following several gains over the weekend. Aleppo has been the center of violence in Syria in recent months where some 2,200 people, including some 700 civilians, have been killed since last July according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which tracks violence in Syria. They must now pull back from demilitarized zones, and allow civilian traffic and humanitarian deliveries – notably into Aleppo.
Enforcement in Aleppo, once Syria’s largest city, is especially hard.
Activist Yasin Abu Raed, who is based in rebel-held eastern Aleppo, said the situation inside the local hospitals there is “miserable”. But if Assad bombs his opponents, the U.S.is unlikely to take any action against him given Obama’s longstanding opposition to entering the civil war.
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Russian Federation also needs to persuade the Syrian air force to stop strikes on rebel-held areas, which have killed large numbers of civilians. Basma Kodmani, of the High Negotiations Committee, told The Associated Press that Russian Federation should pressure Assad to abide by the deal, adding enforcement mechanisms will be needed including the “cessation of hostilities and the grounding (of) regime air forces”.
