Humanitarian aid may soon head to Syria, just hours after diplomats here reached a deal that could lead to a cease-fire.
Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov announced the temporary “cessation of hostilities” in Munich ahead of a security conference here that got underway Friday. Dozens of world leaders and senior diplomats were attending.
Kerry described the effort to achieve a cease-fire as “unanimous” and “ambitious.”
“The challenge now is to make sure that we can create the conditions on the ground for the cease-fire to take place,” Federica Mogherini, the European Union’s senior foreign affairs diplomat, told reporters in Munich.
“Cease-fires are not always respected,” NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said.
Syria’s five-year-long civil war has killed more than 250,000 people, driven more than 4 million people from the country and led to Europe’s worst refugee crisis since World War II.
But while the announcement marks a potentially significant development, it comes as President Bashar Assad’s military, backed by Russian air support, closes in on the Syrian opposition held city of Aleppo. Tens of thousands of new Syrian refugees fled for the border with Turkey amid the offensive. The deal also arrives as major differences remain between Russia and the United States over how to best achieve peace in Syria.
Russia is backing Assad, while the U.S. wants the Syrian president to step aside and is aiding some rebel groups. There was no immediate reaction to the cease-fire deal from the delegation representing Assad in recent peace talks in Geneva.
The cease-fire would not include the Islamic State and al-Nusra Front, an al-Qaeda affiliate in Syria. Both are terrorist groups that a U.S.-led coalition is battling in Syria and Iraq.
David Miliband, president and CEO of aid organization the International Rescue Committee, and a former British foreign minister, said the agreement needs more detail and urgency, and that people in Syria should not have to wait for relief from bombings.
“We wait with eager anticipation to see whether this agreement is a turning point or a false dawn,” he said.
Credit : USA Today
