Early on Saturday the United States and Russia hailed a breakthrough deal, reached in Geneva, to put Syria’s peace process back on track. “The United States and Russia are announcing a plan which we hope will reduce violence, ease suffering and resume movement towards a negotiated peace and a political transition in Syria and we believe that the plan as it is set forth if implemented, if followed, has the ability to provide a turning point, a moment of change,” said US secretary of state John Kerry.
The Agreement promised a nationwide cessation of hostilities, improved humanitarian aid access and joint military targeting of the Islamic State and other extreme Muslim groups, operating in the war-torn-country. ”But let me be clear, out of all of this complexity there is emerging now a simple choice between war and peace, between human agony and humanitarian relief, between the continued disintegration of an ancient society and the rebirth of a united and modern nation,” continued Kerry.
The truce, which came into effect just a few hours ago, is expected – if it holds – to bring-about seven days of preparatory work to set-up a “joint implementation center”, where Moscow and Washington would share information to delineate territory controlled by the al-Qaeda linked Nusra Front and the Islamic State. ”And today Sergei Lavrov and I on behalf of our presidents and our countries call on every Syrian stakeholder to support the plan that the United States and Russia have reached, to back its implementation in good faith and to continue the hard work of bringing this catastrophic conflict to the quickest possible end through a political process,” pleaded Kerry.
Both warring sides would pull back from the strategic Castello Road in the northern city of Aleppo to create a demilitarized zone, while opposition and government groups would both have to provide safe and unhindered access via Ramouseh in the south of the city.