U.S., Russia Agree on Cease-Fire Deal to Ease Syria Crisis

[Valin]

Bloomberg:

Henry Meyer Nick Wadhams

September 9, 2016

 

The U.S. and Russia agreed to impose a cease-fire in Syria’s bloody civil war, seeking to ease the country’s deepening humanitarian crisis and begin talks on a political transition that opponents of President Bashar al-Assad hope will lead to his ouster.

 

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry announced the deal with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov late Friday in Geneva after a day of marathon negotiations. Under the agreement, fighting would be halted at sundown on Sept. 12. If the cease-fire holds for seven days, the U.S. and Russia would then work together to target an al-Qaeda affiliate formerly known as the Nusra Front, which in some cases has mingled with rebels that the U.S. supports.

 

“If this arrangement holds, we will see a significant reduction of violence across Syria,” Kerry told reporters alongside Lavrov. “After a period of reduced violence, then we will see the United States and Russia taking coordinated steps” to fight terrorists and restart a political process.

 

(Snip)

 

 

[Valin]

Details of Syria Pact Widen Rift Between John Kerry and Pentagon
HELENE COOPER and DAVID E. SANGER
SEPT. 13, 2016

WASHINGTON — The agreement that Secretary of State John Kerry announced with Russia to reduce the killing in Syria has widened an increasingly public divide between Mr. Kerry and Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter, who has deep reservations about the plan for American and Russian forces to jointly target terrorist groups.

Mr. Carter was among the administration officials who pushed against the agreement on a conference call with the White House last week as Mr. Kerry, joining the argument from a secure facility in Geneva, grew increasingly frustrated. Although President Obama ultimately approved the effort after hours of debate, Pentagon officials remain unconvinced.

On Tuesday at the Pentagon, officials would not even agree that if a cessation of violence in Syria held for seven days — the initial part of the deal — the Defense Department would put in place its part of the agreement on the eighth day: an extraordinary collaboration between the United States and Russia that calls for the American military to share information with Moscow on Islamic State targets in Syria.

 

“I’m not saying yes or no,” Lt. Gen. Jeffrey L. Harrigian, commander of the United States Air Forces Central Command, told reporters on a video conference call. “It would be premature to say that we’re going to jump right into it.”

 

(Snip)