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| Syrian talks in Munich (Image: The Guardian) |
The Guardian -MUNICH: A cessation of hostilities is to come into force in Syria within a week
and humanitarian aid is to be delivered to besieged areas across the country in
the next few days, the US, Russia and other powers said late on Thursday night
at talks in Munich. There was no clear commitment to end Russian airstrikes,
however.
Galvanised by
mounting international concern over the war, John Kerry, the US secretary of
state, said progress had been made towards implementing a nationwide “cessation
of hostilities”, although it was not clear how this could happen unless Russia
stops bombing civilians and mainstream rebels who are fighting the Syrian
president, Bashar al-Assad. Action against Islamic State would continue.
Western
diplomats confirmed that there had been no agreement by Moscow to immediately
end airstrikes – a key demand of the Syrian opposition, who are likely to be
highly sceptical about the results of the talks.
Kerry said a UN
taskforce would “work to develop the modalities for a long term and durable
cessation of violence”.
Speaking after
lengthy talks that included Russia and more than a dozen other countries, Kerry
said that all involved agreed that Syrian peace negotiations should resume in
Geneva as soon as possible.
Kerry, flanked
by the Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, and UN envoy Staffan de Mistura,
acknowledged that the Munich meeting produced commitments on paper only. He and
Lavrov agreed that the “real test” would be whether all parties to the Syrian
conflict honoured those commitments.
Germany’s
foreign minister, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, said: “We will only be able to see
whether this was a breakthrough in a few days.”
Kerry told
reporters the ceasefire would not apply to extremist groups including Isis and
the al-Nusra Front. He said: “We are doing everything in our power
diplomatically to bring an end to this conflict. This is still a complicated
conflict, with increasing levels of violence and increasing levels of
terrorists.”
Al-Nusra is part
of the Jaysh al-Fateh alliance that conquered large swathes of Idlib province
in the north in the spring of last year, and remains one of the most powerful
groups in Syria fighting the Assad regime. It operates across Syria, including
in Aleppo and Latakia provinces, Idlib, Hama and the south not far from the
Jordanian and Israeli borders.
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| Syrian refugees fleeing the war (Image: The Guardian) |
Syria’s main
opposition group welcomed the plan, spokesman Salim al-Muslat told reporters.
He cautioned, however, that the agreement must show effects before his group
would join political talks with government representatives in Switzerland.
“If we see
action and implementation, we will see you very soon in Geneva,” he said.
Aid deliveries
are to begin by air to Deir ez-Zor and simultaneously to other besieged areas,
including Madaya, Mouadhimiyeh and Kafr Batna. “Humanitarian access to these
most urgent areas will be a first step toward full, sustained, and unimpeded
access throughout the country,” said the statement issued by the International
Syria Support Group (ISSG).
“The cessation
of hostilities will commence in one week, after confirmation by the Syrian government
and opposition, following appropriate consultations in Syria. During that week,
the ISSG taskforce will develop modalities for the cessation of hostilities.”
Zeid Ra’ad al
Hussein, the UN’s High Commissioner for Human Rights, underlined the urgency of
the need for humanitarian access to besieged areas. He described the situation
in Aleppo as “grotesque” amid the ongoing fighting that has sent tens of
thousands of refugees to the Turkish border.
“The warring
parties in Syria are constantly sinking to new depths, without apparently
caring in the slightest about the death and destruction they are wreaking
across the country,” he said in a statement.
“Women and
children, the elderly, the wounded and sick, the people with disabilities are
being used as bargaining chips and cannon fodder day after day, week after
week, month after month. It is a grotesque situation.”
The British
foreign secretary, Philip Hammond, said the agreement to begin a ceasefire in
Syria within a week was an “important step” to ending the civil war in the
country, but warned it would succeed only if Russia ceased bombing moderate
opposition groups.
Hammond said:
“If implemented fully and properly by every ISSG member, this will be an
important step towards relieving the killing and suffering in Syria. But it
will only succeed if there is a major change of behaviour by the Syrian regime
and its supporters.
“Russia, in
particular, claims to be attacking terrorist groups and yet consistently bombs
non-extremist groups including civilians. If this agreement is to work, this
bombing will have to stop: no cessation of hostilities will last if moderate
opposition groups continue to be targeted.”
As the Munich
talks got under way, the gravity of the five-year Syrian crisis was underlined
by remarks by the Russian prime minister, Dimitry Medvedev, who was quoted
telling Germany’s Handelsblatt daily: “The Americans and our Arab partners must
think hard about this – do they want a permanent war? All sides must be forced
to the negotiating table instead of sparking a new world war.”
Medvedev was
apparently responding to suggestions that Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states
might join the US-led campaign against Isis in Syria.
However, the US
accused Russia of worsening the brutal conflict with its military action in
support of Assad.
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| The streets of Syrian cities destroyed by Russian airstrikes (Image: Kyivpost) |
“It has been
Russian support for the Assad regime over the past months, and most recently in
the siege on Aleppo, that has exacerbated, intensified the conflict,” state
department deputy spokesman Mark Toner told reporters. In response to a
question about Medvedev’s “world war” warning, Toner said: “If that is Russia’s
concern, then they should look at what they’re doing to support the Assad
regime.”
Earlier, the US
defence secretary, Ashton Carter, tentatively welcomed the prospect of ground
troops from Saudi Arabia, though in a modest role providing special forces or
helping to train local forces, rather than the full-scale Islamic coalition to
fight Isis, previously hinted at by Riyadh.
The 17-member
ISSG comprises supporters and opponents of Assad. Diplomats said discussions
focused on a plan for halting fighting across Syria, though that fell short of
a formal ceasefire, which, crucially, would require monitoring and
verification. It was unclear how long any cessation might last.
Hours before the
agreement was announced in Munich, veteran Syria watchers expressed scepticism
over whether a genuine breakthrough would be achieved or, if claimed, whether
it would actually be implemented.
“The key
question is whether the [Assad] regime will deliver land access to besieged
areas,” said one diplomat.
“That remains in the regime’s, not Russian,
hands. The proof will be in the doing. If the Russians stop blowing up
civilians and we see movement on access it might open the way to a resumption
of the talks in Geneva – on a comprehensive ceasefire and and a political
transition in parallel. But the regime will likely make positive noises and
then stop anything happening. The problem is that a Kerry-Lavrov agreement
doesn’t involve any of the actors on the ground. We need the Syrians on board.”
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