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'Provisional agreement' reached on ceasefire in Syria, John Kerry says 'Provisional' Syria ceasefire plan called into question as bombs kill 120
(about 4 hours later)
US Secretary of State John Kerry said on Sunday that a “provisional agreement” has been reached on a ceasefire that could begin in the next few days in Syria’s five-year civil war. A “provisional agreement” on a ceasefire in Syria has been reached between the US and Russia, the US secretary of state John Kerry said on Sunday, but serious doubts remain on whether it will come into force as the country reeled from a series of deadly car bombs in Syria’s two biggest cities that left more than 120 dead.
Kerry said he spoke in the morning with Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov to discuss terms of a ceasefire and the two now must reach out to the parties in the conflict. In Homs, twin car bombs killed at least 57 people and wounded 100 on Sunday, and explosions hit parts of the capital, Damascus, killing a further 62 and wounding 180, according to the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. The attacks on both cities were claimed by Islamic State.
He declined to go into the details of the agreement, saying it “is not yet done”. But he said he hoped Barack Obama and Vladimir Putin would talk soon and that after that, implementation could begin. Kerry said he had reached an agreement following phone talks with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov, amid signs that Russia is putting some pressure on Syrian president Bashar al-Assad to comply. There are serious doubts over strength of the deal, which would need the agreement of Vladimir Putin and Barack Obama, who are expected to speak by phone later this week.
“The modalities for a cessation of hostilities are now being completed,” Kerry said. “In fact, we are closer to a ceasefire today than we have been. A cessation of hostilities ... is possible over the course of these next hours.” A previous UN-brokered ceasefire, agreed between the interested parties in Munich a fortnight ago, failed to come into force on Friday as expected, with Russia continuing its bombing campaign and the Syrian army moving to encircle Syria’s second city of Homs.
The Russian foreign ministry seemed to stop short of Kerry’s announcement. The ministry said Lavrov and Kerry spoke on the phone Sunday for a second day in a row and discussed “the modality and conditions” for a ceasefire in Syria that would exclude groups that the UN Security Council considers terrorist organizations. “We have reached a provisional agreement in principle on the terms of a cessation of hostilities that could begin in the coming days,” Kerry told a news conference in Amman with Jordanian foreign minister Nasser Judeh on Sunday. Kerry declined to go into the details of the agreement, saying it “is not yet done”.
Fighting has intensified in Syria during recent weeks and an earlier deadline to cease military activities was not observed. The United States, Russia and other world powers agreed 12 February on a deal calling for the ceasing of hostilities within a week, the delivery of urgently needed aid to besieged areas of Syria and a return to peace talks in Geneva. “The modalities for a cessation of hostilities are now being completed. In fact, we are closer to a ceasefire today than we have been,” said Kerry, who was also to meet Jordan’s King Abdullah. Despite the recent progress made by the Syrian army in northern Syria, Kerry said it was futile to think there was a military solution to the conflict.
UN envoy Staffan De Mistura halted the latest Syria talks on 3 February, because of major differences between the two sides, exacerbated by increased aerial bombings and a wide military offensive by Syrian troops and their allies under the cover of Russian airstrikes. The humanitarian situation has only gotten worse, with an estimated 13.5 million Syrians in need of aid, including 6 million children. Kerry indicated there were still issues to be resolved before the ceasefire could come into force and he did not expect any immediate change on the ground.
“Peace is better than more war,” Kerry said, standing next to Nasser Judeh, the foreign minister of Jordan, which hosts 635,000 Syrian refugees. “A political solution is better than then a futile attempt to try to find a military one that could result in so many more refugees, so many more jihadists, so much more destruction, and possibly even the complete destruction of Syria itself.” However, he reiterated the longtime US position that any political solution to the conflict would not work if Assad remains at the helm of the nation. “Make no mistake. The answer to the Syrian civil war will not be found in any military alliance with Assad,” Kerry said. “Let me make that clear.”
However, he reiterated the long-time US position that any political solution to the conflict will not work if Syrian President Bashar al-Assad remains at the helm of the nation. “Make no mistake. The answer to the Syrian civil war will not be found in any military alliance with Assad,” Kerry said. “Let me make that clear.” The Russian foreign ministry seemed to stop short of Kerry’s announcement. The ministry said Lavrov and Kerry spoke on the phone Sunday for a second day in a row and discussed “the modality and conditions” for a ceasefire in Syria that would exclude groups that the UN Security Council considers terrorist organisations.
He said Russia now has to talk with the Syrian government and Iran, which backs Assad, and the US has to talk with the opposition and members of the International Syria Support Group. He said he knows that not every party will automatically agree to the agreement reached for a ceasefire. An aerial campaign by Moscow launched last autumn has driven the most significant gains by the Assad regime since the start of the war, having primarily targeted mainstream rebels bent on overthrowing him.
“There is a stark choice for everybody here,” Kerry said. Fighting has intensified in Syria during recent weeks and the earlier deadline to cease military activities was not observed. The United States, Russia and other world powers agreed 12 February on a deal calling for the ceasing of hostilities within a week, the delivery of urgently needed aid to besieged areas of Syria and a return to peace talks in Geneva.
“I know how much work remains and I don’t know if everyone is going to meet their commitments,” Kerry said. “I can’t vouch for that – the United States can’t make certain of that.” UN envoy Staffan De Mistura halted the latest Syria talks on 3 February, because of major differences between the two sides, exacerbated by increased aerial bombings and a wide military offensive by Syrian troops and their allies under the cover of Russian airstrikes. The humanitarian situation has worsened, with an estimated 13.5 million Syrians in need of aid, including six million children.
He said enforcement issues still need to be resolved in addition to how any breeches will be addressed. The need for a ceasefire has also become even more urgent due to signs that Turkey is threatening to invade northern Syria in a bid to contain the Syrian Kurds, and protect opposition forces. The US has been working with the Syrian Kurds, but Turkey, a key American ally, claims they have links with terrorist organisations inside Turkey. Ankara has been shelling Syrian Kurd positions from inside Turkey despite appeals from America to show restraint.
“These are details that have to be determined if it going to be effective,” Kerry said. In an interview with El Pais on Saturday, Assad said he was ready for a ceasefire on the condition “terrorists” did not use a lull in fighting to their advantage and that countries backing insurgents stopped supporting them.
The Syrian opposition had earlier said it had agreed to the “possibility” of a temporary truce, provided there were guarantees Damascus’s allies, including Russia, would cease fire, sieges were lifted and aid deliveries were allowed countrywide.
Russia has said it would exclude from the ceasefire operations against organisations “recognised as terrorist by the UN Security Council”. This would in effect mean air operations against Isis and the al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front could continue, but there is a dispute about what other groups could be categorised as terrorist. The agreement of Iran would also be required.
Kerry did not suggest his ceasefire would lead to a quick change on the ground. He said: “I do not believe that in the next few days, during which time we try to bring this into effect, there is somehow going to be a tipping point with respect to what is happening on the ground ... The opposition has made clear their determination to fight back,” he said.
Meanwhile, at least 57 people were killed and 100 people wounded in a pro-government district of Homs, one of the deadliest attacks in the city in five years of civil war, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. The districts hit – in the Zahra neighbourhood – are predominantly Alawite, the minority Muslim sect to which Assad belongs.
Four explosions hit the southern Damascus district of Sayeda Zeinab, where a revered Shia shrine is located, leaving 62 dead and 180 injured, according to the Observatory.
The attacks on Homs and Damascus targeted areas dominated by Muslim minorities reviled by the Sunni radicals of Isis.
A ceasefire and the resumption of aid deliveries has become a de facto precondition for substantive peace talks to start on a future government for Syria.