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World|politics|September 10, 2016 / 11:41 AM
Russia, U.S. agree on nationwide ceasefire in Syria

AKIPRESS.COM - air strike in Syria Russia and the U.S. have announced a breakthrough agreement on Syria that foresees a nationwide ceasefire starting early next week, reports Times of Malta.

The ceasefire will be followed by an unlikely new military partnership between the rival governments targeting Islamic State and Al-Qaeda.

At a joint news conference after a marathon day of negotiations, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said the plan can reduce violence in Syria and lead to a long-sought political transition, ending more than five years of bloodshed.

He called the deal a potential "turning point" in the conflict, if implemented by Syria's Russian-backed government and U.S.-supported rebel groups.

The ceasefire begins at sundown Monday, Kerry said, coinciding with the Muslim Eid al-Adha holiday.

His negotiating partner, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, confirmed the agreement and said it could help expand the counter-terrorism fight and aid deliveries to Syrian civilians.

He said Syrian President Bashar Assad's government is prepared to comply with the arrangement.

The deal ends months of frenetic diplomacy that included four meetings between Kerry and Lavrov since August 26.

The arrangement hinges on Moscow pressuring Assad's government to halt all offensive operations against Syria's armed opposition and civilian areas. Washington must persuade "moderate" rebels to break ranks with the Nusra Front, Al-Qaeda's Syria affiliate, and other extremist groups.

Both sides have failed to deliver their ends of the bargain over several previous truces, but the new arrangement goes further by promising a new U.S.-Russian counter-terrorism alliance, only a year after President Barack Obama chastised Russia for a military intervention that U.S. officials said was mainly designed to keep Assad in power and target more moderate anti-Assad forces.

The deal includes intelligence-sharing and targeting coordination, a level of U.S.-Russian interaction that has upset several leading national security officials in Washington, including Defense Secretary Ash Carter and National Intelligence Director James Clapper. The joint military work would only begin after several days of adherence to the new ceasefire.

Getting Assad's government and rebel groups to comply with the deal may now be more difficult as fighting rages around the divided city of Aleppo, Syria's most populous and the new focus of a war that has killed as many as 500,000 people.

Syria's conflict has also chased millions of people from their homes, contributing to Europe's worst refugee crisis since the Second World War. Amid the chaos of fighting between Syria's government and rebels, the Islamic State group has emerged as a global terror threat.

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