“And it has the ability to stick, providing the regime and the opposition both meet their obligations”.
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But the United States has resisted coming to an agreement due to Russian and Syrian regime actions against civilians in Aleppo.
He added that the accord will also prevent the air forces of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad from flying combat missions anywhere that the opposition is present, calling this provision the “bedrock of the agreement”, labeling Assad’s air force the “main driver of civilian casualties” and migrant flows.
“This is just the beginning of our new relations”, Lavrov said. Kerry is in Geneva for yet another meeting with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to try to f. 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.
In turn, Washington has to get the opposition groups it backs to separate themselves from Al Nusra, which has allied itself with a range of rebels at different points in the fluid conflict.
The military deal would go into effect after both sides abide by the truce for a week and allow unimpeded humanitarian deliveries.
If those conditions are met, the USA and Russian Federation will start collaborating on military strikes against ISIS and al-Nusra. A key concern for Russian Federation was that the Nusra Front – which recently changed its name to Jabhat Fatah al-Sham – has in many cases teamed up with moderate rebels the USA supports, particularly in and around Aleppo.
But the new arrangement goes further by promising a new U.S.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, center, delivers vodka to reporters awaiting a late night press conference along with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry in Geneva, Switzerland, Friday, Sept. 9, 2016.
Russia, in response, has chafed at America’s financial and military assistance to groups that have intermingled with the Nusra Front on the battlefield. Officials had suggested Kerry wouldn’t travel to Geneva unless a deal was clearly at hand.
“Going after Nusra is not a concession to anybody”, Kerry said. A beaming Lavrov, accompanied by a posse of officials, including one bearing a tall stack of pizza boxes, announced that they were a gift “from the US delegation”. “We will be watching closely the implementation of this understanding in the days ahead”.
The pair spoke at a joint press conference after a lengthy day of negotiations in Geneva.
“We will jointly agree on strikes against terrorists to be carried out by the Russian and American air forces”, Mr Lavrov said.
Mr Lavrov said despite continuing mistrust, the two sides had developed five documents that would enable coordination of the fight against terrorism and a revival of Syria’s failed truce in an enhanced form.
Fighting between rebels and Assad’s forces has recently reached new levels of ferociousness in and around the divided northern city of Aleppo, where human rights groups report the conflict has claimed more than 700 civilian lives in the last 40 days, including 165 children.
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Pro-regime forces have taken back a strategically important district on Aleppo s southern outskirts, rolling back almost every gain from a month-long rebel offensive there.
