Save the Children’s Syria director Sonia Khush said: “The announcement of a nationwide cessation of hostilities from Monday is very welcome, and couldn’t come soon enough for Syria’s children”. The United States and Russian Federation are both ostensibly fighting ISIS in Syria, but Washington has charged that Russian Federation has mostly focused on bombing groups opposing Assad, a close ally.
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He called the deal a potential “turning point” in a conflict that has killed as many as 500,000 people, if complied with by Syrian President Bashar Assad’s Russia-backed government and US -supported rebel groups.
“The Syrian government has been informed of these arrangements and is ready to fulfill them”, Lavrov said at a news conference alongside Kerry after midnight.
“We must build on this initial ceasefire to move towards sustained humanitarian access and a longer term pause in the fighting”.
Since then, the diplomacy has been complicated by increased fighting in Aleppo, where members of the Syrian Conquest Front have increasingly become more mixed with moderate opposition fighters.
The US and Russian Federation also agreed on specific areas where the two countries will fight together against Islamic State extremists, Lavrov said.
He said the accord would also prevent Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s air force from flying combat missions anywhere the opposition is present, calling this provision the “bedrock of the agreement”.
But Mr Lavrov added that “the Syrian air force will be practical in other places, outside those that we now have singled out for Russian-American military cooperation”.
“This work was not in vain, and we thank the USA delegation”, Lavrov said.
If the just-announced plans hold, Kerry said, it could lead to political transition and reverse the current trend of “simply creating more terrorists, more extremists and destroying the country in the process”.
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The agreement was reached after 10 months of attempts to halt the fighting and suspended efforts for a political settlement in a conflict that began more than five years ago, has left almost a half-million people dead and created the largest refugee crisis since World War II.
Jabhat Fateh al-Sham used to be known as the Nusra Front but changed its name in June and announced it was cutting ties with al-Qaeda.
It says the agreement is “critical” for ending the fighting throughout Syria, and specifically Aleppo. The talks hinge on an unlikely U.S.
In the Mideast, the main Syrian opposition umbrella group said it hoped the new U.S.
Basma Kodmani, of the High Negotiations Committee, tells The Associated Press that Russian Federation should pressure President Bashar Assad’s government to abide by the agreement reached early Saturday.
The government advance further sealed off Aleppo’s opposition-held eastern districts, and government troops backed by the Russian air force have completely encircled opposition-held neighbourhoods, leaving the civilian population completely cut off. The activist-operated Aleppo Media Center and the Local Coordination Committees also reported that nine were killed in the bombing.
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More than 400,000 people have died and millions more displaced from Syria.
