Ceasefire in Syria Headed by Russia and the US

• 02.12.2016, 18:25
•  Near East,  World

REUTERS/MICHAEL DALDER

Exactly 5 years after the Syrian conflict has started major powers involved in the crisis have agreed to a cessation of hostilities in Syria set to begin in a week and to provide rapid humanitarian access to besieged Syrian towns, Reuters reports. During the meeting in Munich the representatives of Russia, the US, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Iran, as well as the UN, the EU, the League of Arab States, reaffirmed their commitment to political transformations when conditions on the ground improve.

The U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry acknowledged the Munich meeting produced commitments on paper only. "What we need to see in the next few days are actions on the ground, in the field," he said, adding that "without a political transition, it is not possible to achieve peace."

In his turn, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov declared during a news conference that Russia would not stop air attacks in Syria, as the cessation of hostilities did not apply to Islamic State and al Nusrah, or other organizations that have been recognized as terrorist ones by the UN Security Council. Lavrov said negotiations in Geneva are to resume as soon as possible and the Syrian opposition delegation should take part in the talks. The main problem that Munich meeting’s participants could not agree on, is defining the list of terrorist organizations, TASS reports.

UN special envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura said it would be quite difficult to reach the goal. He also informed that a working group would be created under the presidency of Russia and the United States. 

The experience of the previous 5 years of the Syrian conflict suggests in such a short period of time the cessation of hostilities in Syria is not a realistic plan, taking into consideration the fact that it will not apply to the forces that control quite large territories.

In general, there is an impression that the Syrian crisis has reached to a turning point when the situation should lead to a wider war with the involvement of international forces or the key of the solution should be found. From this point of view former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger's statement is interesting. During his visit to Moscow in the beginning of February he said that the threat arising from "uncontrolled territories" in the Middle East are the same both for the US and Russia, Al-Monitor writes.

Maybe the common threat can induce the parties to put aside their differences and jointly fight against the potential disintegration of the regional system of nation states.