Mr Kerry appeared at the news conference after several hours of internal USA discussions.
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The state media outlet said the “cessation of hostilities” would begin in Aleppo “for humanitarian reasons”, reported Associated Press.
The United States and Russian Federation, backing opposing sides in the war, announced a deal in the early hours of Saturday including a nationwide ceasefire effective from sundown on Monday, improved aid access and joint targeting of banned militant Islamist groups.
Turkey said it would support efforts to ensure the truce holds and to turn the deal into a long-term political solution. The official said the deal calls for a week of “reduced violence” starting from sunset on September 12, the beginning of the Muslim Eid holiday.
Well, the first thing, I think, we should acknowledge is that nothing is going to change with regards to all of the violence and the mass murder in Syria until the United States, Israel and the West get their dirty hands out of this business, quit arming and training and funding these terrorists.
The civil war in Syria, which has its roots in 2011’s Arab Spring, has pitted the long-standing Assad regime and its supporters in Russian Federation and Iran against an assortment of secular and Islamist groups – prone to frequent infighting – backed by Sunni and Western countries.
Russian Federation wants to see Syria’s president, Bashar al-Assad, stay in power, while moderate opposition forces and Turkey insist no transition deal can allow him to retain power for any period of time. The Syrian air force would stay out of zones being targeted by the U.S. and Russian Federation.
Both warring sides would pull back from the strategic Castello Road in Aleppo to create a demilitarized zone, while opposition and government groups would both have to provide safe and unhindered access via Ramouseh in the south of the city.
At one point, Mr Lavrov said he was considering “calling it a day” on talks, expressing frustration with what he described as an hours-long wait for a U.S. response.
The UN’s Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura joined Kerry and Lavrov after their talks and welcomed the deal, which he said he will to take to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and to seek global support for its implementation.
“That should put an end to the barrel bombs, an end to the indiscriminate bombing of civilian neighborhoods”, Kerry said. “It is profoundly in the interests of the United States”. “If Aleppo continues to be torn apart, the prospects for Syria and its people are grim”. 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.
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”.
Kerry said that if “legitimate opposition groups” want to be considered legitimate parties they “need to distance themselves in every way possible” from the terror groups al-Nusra Front and ISIS.
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Washington has been tasked with persuading “moderate” rebels to break away from the Nusra Front and other extremist groups.
