Kerry said the US -supported opposition and other fighters will be called upon to set themselves apart from the radical Islamic State group and the Nusra Front.
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The announcement followed a day of discussions between the two countries in Geneva which saw a new military partnership that will target the Islamic state group (ISIS) and al-Qaida.
“We welcome the deal if it is going to be enforced”, she told the BBC, and said the HNC was “absolutely in favour” of a cessation of hostilities.
The two governments regard both the Islamic State group and its jihadist rival, former Al-Qaeda affiliate the Fateh al-Sham Front, as “terrorist” organisations and both are excluded from the ceasefire plan. “After a period of reduced violence, then we will see the United States and Russian Federation taking coordinated steps” to fight terrorists and restart a political process.
-Russian counterterrorism alliance, only a year after Obama chastised Putin for a military intervention that US officials said was mainly created to keep Assad in power and target more moderate anti-Assad forces.
Both warring sides would pull back from the strategic Castello Road in Aleppo to create a demilitarised zone, while opposition and government groups would both have to provide safe and unhindered access via Ramouseh in the south of the city.
“The Syrian Government has been informed by us about these arrangements, and it is ready to fulfil them”, he added.
“Our own goal is to try to settle the remaining issues that we have in reaching an agreement”, State Department spokesman Mark Toner said Thursday as Kerry weighed the trip.
The deal ends months of frenetic diplomacy that included four meetings between Mr Kerry and Mr Lavrov since August 26.
Kerry told reporters that “bedrock” of the agreement, is Russia’s ensuring that Assad’s air force will no longer fly combat missions over opposition and civilian areas.
Both sides have failed to deliver their ends of the bargain over several previous truces.
The deal includes intelligence-sharing and targeting co-ordination, a level of US-Russian interaction that has upset several leading national security officials in Washington, including defence secretary Ash Carter and National Intelligence director James Clapper. Under the agreement, Russian-backed government forces and opposition groups, supported by the United States and Gulf States, would halt fighting for a while as a confidence building measure.
“Getting the Assad regime to comply with the Russian part and the opposition to comply with the US part is going to be a real struggle”, said Andrew Tabler, a fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter, who only days ago delivered a forceful speech in England criticizing Russian Federation, has always been skeptical of Moscow’s intentions in Syria. “We will be watching closely the implementation of this understanding in the days ahead”.
Kerry outlined several steps the government and rebels would have to take. He then presented journalists with several boxes of pizza, saying: “This is from the United States delegation”, and two bottles of vodka, adding: “This is from the Russian delegation”. Syrian troops and their allies also retook nearly all the territory lost since a July 31 offensive by the opposition forces in south and southwestern Aleppo province, according to the group, which monitors the conflict through activists on the ground. “If Aleppo continues to be torn apart, the prospects for Syria and its people are grim”.
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Diplomats hope the deal will also focus military efforts on tackling IS and al Qaida militants, following long-standing complaints from the global coalition that Russian Federation had been targeting moderate groups opposed to Moscow’s ally Assad.
