"Waffenruhe in Syrien werde nicht gegen den Islamischen Staat (Daesh) und andere Terrororganisationen gelten, die vom Uno-Sicherheitsrat als solche anerkannt werden" Putin
„Bis Mittag am 26. Februar haben alle in Syrien kämpfenden Seiten uns bzw. den amerikanischen Partnern ihr Festhalten an der Waffenruhe zu bestätigen“, so Putin in einer Erklärung, die vom russischen Fernsehen übertragen wurde.
„Russische und amerikanische Militärs werden gemeinsam anhand von Landkarten bestimmen, auf welchen Territorien solche Gruppierungen aktiv sind“, so der russische Präsident.
„Gegen diese werden die Streitkräfte Syriens, der russischen Streitkräfte und der von den USA angeführten Koalition keine Kampfoperationen ausführen“, sagte er. .....
Die Waffenruhe in Syrien werde nicht gegen den Islamischen Staat (Daesh) und andere Terrororganisationen gelten, die vom Uno-Sicherheitsrat als solche anerkannt werden, fügte er hinzu.
„Was den Islamischen Staat, die Al-Nusra-Front und die anderen Terrororganisationen anbelangt, die vom Uno-Sicherheitsrat als solche anerkannt werden, so werden diese aus dem Regime der Waffenruhe völlig ausgeschlossen“, sagte der russische Staatschef. „Gegen sie werden weiterhin Schläge geführt.“
„Russland wird die erforderliche Arbeit mit Damaskus und der legitimen Staatsführung Syriens durchführen“, hieß es. „Wir rechnen damit, dass die Vereinigten Staaten das Gleiche mit ihren Verbündeten und den von ihnen unterstützten Gruppierungen tun werden.“
The US and Russia have adopted “Terms for a Cessation of Hostilities in Syria” and propose that a ceasefire start on Saturday at midnight Damascus time. Terror groups, such as ISIS and Al-Nusra, are not part of the truce.
According to the statement, the truce will “be applied to [all] those parties to the Syrian conflict that have indicated their commitment” to accept its terms. It will exclude Islamic State, Al Nusra Front and “other terrorist organizations designated by the UN Security Council.”
The ceasefire plan also stipulates that other parties should indicate “their commitment to and acceptance of the terms for the cessation of hostilities” by no later than 12:00 (Damascus time) on February 26.
Following Moscow and Washington’s announcement of a joint ceasefire deal for Syria, the war-torn country may be on the verge of the biggest peacemaking breakthrough since fighting broke out there five years ago. Here is how the proposed truce should work:
U.S. Peace Council’s Exclusive Interview with Dr. Bashar Ja’afari,
Permanent Representative of the Syrian Arab Republic to the United Nations, and
Head of the Syrian Delegation at the Geneva III Negotiations
Date of Interview: February 19, 2016 — New York
B.A. [USPC]: With sincere thanks for allowing us to have this interview with you despite
your extremely busy schedule, please start by giving us an overall view of the state of
affairs with regard to the Syrian crisis today.
Dr. Ja’afari: Let me brief you as simply as possible. If there is a turning point in the whole
situation right now, it will be as the following: The enemies of Syria have moved from stage I to
Stage II. Stage I was somehow limited to a war by proxies in Syria. Stage II is definitely a direct
war. And this is how we can interpret the Turkish government’s threats of direct military
involvement inside Syria. The Saudis, of course should be taken into consideration in the same
vain. Jordan never stopped sending terrorists from the south. The Israelis are deeply involved by
dealing with AlNusrah front and treating their wounded guys in the Israeli hospitals, as you
know. So, if there is anything new right now, it would be moving from Stage I to Stage II, from
war by proxies to direct war and direct military involvement into the Syrian domestic affairs.
The Russian delegation [at the UN] asked this morning for urgent in the [Security]
Council to discuss the Turkish threats of sending Turkish troops inside Syria. The meeting will
take place this afternoon. That would be the second meeting called by the Russians of the
members of Security Council within [the last] 48 hours. Yesterday they called for a meeting, and
today they called for another meeting. Moscow is definitely very well aware of the Turkish
military interference and threats because the Russians, as you know, are monitoring the whole
situation very closely, with our own air forces. The main question would be why the Turks and Saudis are doing so. Of course the Qataris are
hiding inbetween. The Jordanians are doing their dirty business us usual, but quietly. So, we are
talking about the same gangs, but this time they are doing things blatantly. The answer is that
they got hysterical after the serious military advances of our Army, and after we succeeded with
cleaning up the city of Aleppo and reaching the Turkish border. Our Army has liberated, this
morning, the last pocket of terrorists on the SyrianTurkish border in the governorate of Latakia.
And now we are cleaning up the SyrianTurkish border in the governorate of Idlib, which is the
hub of international terrorists gathered by the Turkish regime on the SyrianTurkish border.
Aleppo will be cleaned up very soon. The same in the south: Many terrorist offensives in the south have failed. Our Army has the upper hand in the south, next to the Jordanian border, as
well as in the separation area in Syria’s occupied Golan with Israel.
So, they are getting hysterical because we have achieved serious military advances on the
ground, with the help of our allies—the Russians, Iranians, and the forces of resistance, i.e., the
Hezbollah and other national forces on the ground. Being cornered by these military advances on
the ground, the Turkish government and the Saudi government reacted very aggressively by
trying to escalate the situation to a higher degree, so that their allies — the Americans, the
British, the French — would be obligated to accommodate their concerns. But they failed
because even the United States, even Britain, even Germany, even France have called on the
Turks not to escalate and not to shell the Syrian Kurds next to the border.
Somehow the Saudi’s and the Turks’ wrong policies toward Syria have led to an impasse,
deadlock, on the ground, on the side of the terrorists I mean. It seems the real intentions of
Riyadh, Ankara, and Amman, as well as Israel, is to torpedo and undermine any chances of
success in Geneva within the framework of what we call the Syrian indirect talks, known as
Geneva III. The Saudis were not enthusiastic and they are still not enthusiastic for any political
settlement of the Syrian crisis. They are still favoring the option of sending flows of terrorists to
Syria via Turkish territory. The Turks are taking, of course, charge of logistical matters and
training of these same terrorists, and the Qataris are paying the bill also, and covering up the
whole scenario through Aljazeera and its affiliated channels. It is an open war right now. No
more excuses to anybody to say that they don’t know what is going on — everybody knows what
is going on.
Even many Security Council reports have stated that there are thousands of foreign mercenaries
operating in Syria. We know even their nationalities. We have provided to the Security Council
subcommittees dealing with combatting terrorism books and photos of these foreigners —
names, nationalities, all the details, thousands of names and photos. Of course here we are
talking about those who got killed by the Syrian Army. The names we have provided are only
limited to those who are operating within the Syrian territory. But there still thousands others
operating in Syria and Iraq.
This is why everybody is cornered nowadays, because the game is over. No more lies, no more
propaganda, can succeed. Even CNN and other American and European media outlets talk about
what is going on in Syria. We have received in Damascus many French parliamentarian
delegations, all of them are criticizing the French government’s wrong policies toward Syria. We
receive almost on a weekly basis Turkish delegations, coming from Ankara and Istanbul,
criticizing Erdogan government’s policies. While they are in Syria, in Damascus itself, they
appear on the Syrian TV and criticize the wrong Turkish policies.
So, we are at a turning point right now. Either we go for the entrapment of escalation sought by
the Saudis, Israelis and the Turks, or we go towards the political settlement within the framework
of Geneva. But to go for this political settlement, we need to fulfill first the prerequisites of
Vienna II and the Security Council Resolution 2254, which says that De Mistura [UN Special
Envoy for Syria Crisis] should come up with two lists: who is terrorist and who is opposition. If
he doesn’t fulfill this sacrosanct mission, nothing would fly. Nothing would fly because people
are seeking to mix up cards and to fish in murky waters, as we say, so that nobody would know
who is terrorist and who is opposition.
B.A.: How do we reconcile these negotiations, on the one hand, with the intensified Turkish
and Saudi military attempts to intervene in Syria, on the other? It seems that so long that
they thought they had the upper hand in the war, they were willing to enter negotiations,
but now that the Syrian Army is taking the upper hand in the war, they are shifting to
what you referred to as Stage II. Will they still be willing to negotiate under these
transformed conditions?
Dr. Ja’afari: No, no. As I said at the beginning, the TurkishSaudi escalation is mainly due to
the fact that they got hysterical. The Syrian Army has achieved victories on all fronts, next to the
TurkishSyrian border as well as the SyrianJordanian border and SyrianIsraeli border. This
kind of escalation has only one justification: it is mainly due to the failure of the Turkish policy,
failure of the Saudi policy, and the failure of the Jordanian policy. But these three neighboring
countries of Syria would not have dared to take up this escalation to this highest level if
Washington did tell them not to do it. So the master of the game is Washington. Washington
should tell these allies that enough is enough. That playing with Syrian blood and committing
this bloodshed in Syria has reached an intolerable degree and should stop. We need to engage in
political settlement, but to engage in this political settlement you need credible partners. You
don’t need to deal with treacherous elements, agents and spies. You need to work out a political
settlement with national opposition — people who are careful about rescuing their country from
the mercenaries and terrorists coming from all over the world with the help of the Gulf States’
money and the Turkish logistics. That is why I said we are at a turning point: either we go toward
a political settlement or we go toward military escalation.
B.A.: Why is Saudi Arabia so insistent on a confrontation with Syria?
Dr. Ja’afari: We should also shed some light on the reasons that have motivated the Saudis to
open the Pandora’s box, meaning, threatening to send troops into Syria. The Saudis failed in
Yemen catastrophically, as you know. Today, hundreds of Saudi prisoners were taken by the
Yemeni forces. Twelve Saudi highlevel officers from the headquarters signed a joint letter to the
Crown Price asking him not to enter into any other military misadventure in Syria because they
are incapable of continuing their aggression against Yemen. When the Saudis wrongly claim that
they would like to send troops into Syria, I think they are either crazy guys, or they are mere
dreamers, or they are amateurish politicians. But in all cases, this is going to be another scandal
to be added to the Yemeni scandal, and to the Iraqi scandal. The Saudis have failed at all fronts
— Yemen, Syria, Iraq, Palestine — and now they have lost the trust and confidence of
everybody, exactly like Erdogan.
And this is why the Saudis are now trying to gather another wave of international mercenaries —
and they call them the “Islamic Alliance,” which is neither Islamic nor an alliance, but a
continuation of collecting garbage from all over the world and calling them “Islamic” forces.
Actually, the Saudis have never stopped sending terrorists to Syria under this label of “Islamist”
groups. So there is nothing new in this regard, except that the level of craziness of the Saudis has
reached a high degree of irresponsibility.
The Saudi regime has stopped paying salaries to doctors in Saudi Arabia. Highlevel officers, as
I said, are energetically against engaging in any military misadventure after the failure in Yemen.
They have huge domestic troubles in the eastern part of Saudi Arabia as well as elsewhere. As
you know, the price of oil has dropped to a very low level. The Saudis are almost in bankruptcy
right now. They are facing huge challenges, economically, politically, and socially, because of
the violation of human rights, as you know, and the execution of the Sheikh Nimr Baqir alNimr,
etc., etc. They are adding failure after failure, and they are still stubborn and insisting on
committing the same mistakes, again and again and again. But this time, as the British newspaper
The Independent put it yesterday, Saudi Arabia is going to be disintegrated soon.
B.A.: Going back to actual negotiations, we know they were delayed from the very
beginning. What are the obstacles to this process at this stage? What is keeping these
negotiations from really going forward?
Dr. Ja’afari: Number one: it is not about negotiating. It is about indirect discussions, indirect
talks. That was the option chosen by De Mistura, the Special Envoy, himself. He wanted it to be
so, and we agreed on that. This is number one: it is not about negotiating; it is about indirect
talks.
Number two: everything was very badly organized in Geneva III. When we went there, we
engaged immediately after our arrival in Geneva. Two hours after landing at the airport of
Geneva, we went ahead to our meeting with De Mistura at the Palais de Nations, which is the
United Nations’ headquarter. But the other delegation, which is called the Riyadh group, did not
come until four days later. And when they came, they didn’t go to De Mistura. He went to them
at the Hotel.
Beside the socalled delegation of the Riyadh group, whose names were conveyed to De Mistura,
another guy came from Riyadh with 102 other persons on board of a Saudi Airline. They didn’t
even observe or respect even the framework — the form, forget about the substance — of these
indirect talks. So, things did not take off because the organization was very bad. The Special
Envoy did not treat everybody on an equal footing in according with the provisions of 2254
Resolution and the Vienna Declaration. He spoiled only the Riyadh group at the detriment of
other delegations. And he didn’t qualify as others as delegations. He considered the delegation of
women as advisers for him. He considered the delegation of civil society as advisers to him. He
didn’t deal with the national domestic opposition coming from Damascus. He didn’t deal with
the group of Moscow and the group of Cairo on an equal footing with the group of Riyadh. So he
committed many mistakes and he was under huge pressure from Washington and the Saudis and
the Turks and the French. This is why things did not take off, because there was no fuel for this
missile of indirect talks at Geneva III to take off.
We engaged with him twice, officially speaking. I sat with him twice in official meetings, with
my delegation of course. He acknowledged this. He said that the Syrian government was
disciplined, organized, etc., etc. So he commended our participation. But again and again and
again, he came to Geneva, he invited terrorists to come to Geneva, the guy from Jaysh alIslam,
who came from Riyadh with the group of Riyadh. It is a terrorist organization but he still insisted
on inviting these terrorists. He invited another terrorist from Ahrar alSham also, who works for
the Turks. There were many scandals over there, and all these scandals led to this deadlock and
impasse. So things did not take off and we didn’t engage even in any formal discussions. As he
called it, the exploratory talks — and I called it the preparatory talks — for Geneva III did not
start in Geneva.
B.A.: What is the key to opening this lock? Who has the key?
Dr. Ja’afari: De Mistura has the key. Washington has the key. The British, the French, the
Russians, everybody has the key, because they should come up with the list of who is terrorist
and who is opposition. That is the key of any success.
B.A.: Do you think there is going to be any agreement on that?
Dr. Ja’afari: Hopefully, hopefully. I think there he [De Mistura] got that point. He understood
that, without identifying who is terrorist and who is opposition, things cannot take off. I hope he
got it.
B.A.: So how do you see the future from here?
Dr. Ja’afari: We don’t know yet. As I told you, if the Turkish regime insisted on sending troops
inside Syria, that would mean a huge escalation in the area. That would trigger not only a
regional war but an international war — a world war, unfortunately.
Erdogan is playing with fire, with everybody. His Prime Minister created and invented this
wrong policy called “zero problem policy” with Turkey’s neighbors. Now he has ended up with
“full problem policies” with all the neighbors of Turkey. He also has very bad relationship with
his best ally, Washington, with Europeans —France, Britain, Germany, with Cyprus, with
Armenia, with Iran, with Iraq, with Syria, and who else? Bulgaria. No neighbor of Turkey has a
normal relationship with Ankara. So, Erdugan cannot be right and everybody else wrong.
The Turkish regime has even blackmailed the Europeans with this phenomenon called the
“Syrian refugees,” for instance. He let flows of socalled immigrants to invade Europe in order to
blackmail the Europeans: either you allow me to establish this nofly zone in the northern part of
Syria, or I will inundate you with refugees — not only from Syria, because Syrians are only 20
percent of those who went to Germany, but from all over the world: Afghans, Eritreans,
Sudanese, everybody claims he Syrian nowadays. Everybody is gathered by the Turks in Turkey
and sent to Europe as Syrian refugees.
The Turkish policy has failed. Blackmailing is over. Now they are escalating, militarily
speaking. And they should assume responsibility for the consequences of their act. But their best
allies should stop them. If we want to save, maintain and rescue peace all over the world,
pressure — serious pressure — should be exerted on Erdogan and his Prime Minister.
B.A.: But Turkey is a NATO state, a member of NATO. What are these Western powers
doing right now? What is their role in this? Saudis and Turks cannot really be acting that
independently.
Dr. Ja’afari: Thank god the NATO did not buy the Turkish policies toward Syria. NATO even
denied any assistance to Erdogan. Germany withdrew the missiles from SyrianTurkish border.
NATO is not happy with Erdogan’s wrongdoings in the area. And this is a good sign. But, still,
things cannot be limited and restricted to this political pressure. Washington, and the Europeans,
should tell Erdogan that enough is enough. He is threatening to trigger a third world war.
B.A.: What can people in the Western countries, especially in the United States and
Europe, do to push for a political settlement of the Syrian crisis and avoid yet another, this
time more devastating, war?
Dr. Ja’afari: The Americans and Europeans should look for their own interest. If the Turks enter
Syria, a TurkishRussian military confrontation will erupt immediately. A SyrianTurkish
military confrontation will erupt immediately. The Iranians wouldn’t remain quiet. You will see
that Egypt will not remain quiet. Iraq will not be quiet. It is going to be a huge problem for
everybody. So, the main question is: Is it in the interest of everybody not to interfere? Not to
exert pressure on the Saudis and the Turks in this regard? Is it in the interest of the USA to
trigger a third world war with Russia right now? I don’t think so.
B.A.: Thank you very much Dr. Ja’afari.
U.S. Peace Council, PO Box 3105, New Haven, CT 06515 • (203) 3870371 www.uspeacecouncil.org • USPC@USPeaceCouncil.org
Assad calls Syria parliamentary election for April
RT - The parliamentary elections in Syria will be held on April 13, 2016, said a statement issued by Syrian President Bashar Assad.
Syria holds a general election every four years, with the previous vote taking place in 2012.
The announcement comes hours after Russia and the US issued a joint statement on cessation of hostilities in this country, announcing February 27 as the starting date for the ceasefire.
Russian President Vladimir Putin stressed that the truce will not include terror groups, such as Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) or Jabhat al-Nusra.
Putin called on Assad’s government and the opposition to support the action plan agreed by Moscow and Washington.
RT - Washington has dispatched more than 5,000 tons of ammunition to Germany, the largest amount in 10 years, the US military announced, adding that the shipment will help to “continue to enable the NATO alliance” and to defend its allies.
“In the largest single Europe-bound US shipment of ammunition in 10 years, the 21st Theater Sustainment Command … transported over 5,000 tons of ammunition …to the Theater Logistics Support Center Europe's ammunition depot in Miesau [Germany] Feb. 17-18,” said a statement on the US army website.
"This critical shipment will help us to continue to enable the NATO alliance, and the fact that it's the largest single shipment in 10 years demonstrates our continued commitment to the defense of our allies," 21st TSC chief of staff, Colonel Matthew Redding, said.
Maintaining a stockpile of ammunition means the US and NATO “can quickly draw ammunition in support of short notice NATO operations,” says Redding.
"All that effort pays off when we're able to quickly deliver ammo and other supplies to those down-trace units that need them," he went on.
The ammunition was taken in 415 shipping containers and stored in Miesau. It will be available for various troops to support operations, including exercise Anakonda 2016, one of US Army Europe’s premier multinational training events, which will be held in Poland in June.
The Anakonda 2016 drills will involve more than 25,000 participants from 24 nations, including the UK, the US, Estonia, Finland, Georgia, Germany, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Spain, Sweden and Turkey.
NATO intensified its military activities in Europe following the start of the Ukrainian crisis and Russia’s reunification with Crimea in 2014.
In 2015, the alliance carried out a number of massive military drills including “Trident Juncture 2015”, the biggest since 2002, which included 36,000 international troops, as well as more than 60 warships and about 200 aircraft from 30 states.
Moscow has long called on NATO to refrain from expanding into Eastern Europe, saying that such moves have the potential to destabilize the security situation in the region.
Stephen Kinzer vom Watson-Institut für Internationale Studien der Brown University hat in einem Artikel für die Boston Globe die Berichterstattung zum Syrien-Krieg als eine der schändlichsten Seiten in der Geschichte der amerikanischen Presse bezeichnet.
Laut Kinzer ist das jüngste Beispiel, wo sich die amerikanischen Medien mit Schande bedeckt haben, die Berichterstattung über die jüngsten Ereignisse in Aleppo. In den letzten Wochen hat die syrische Armee mit russischer Luftunterstützung begonnen, die Gegend von den Militanten zu befreien, die seit drei Jahren die Stadt kontrollieren.
Ihre Herrschaft hatte mit Repressalien an den Zivilisten begonnen. So warnten Rebellen die Einwohner, ihre Kinder nicht zur Schule zu schicken, sonst würden sie „Särge erhalten“, so der Experte. Nach seinen Angaben zerstörten die Militanten mehrere Fabriken — in der Hoffnung, dass sich die nun arbeitslosen Menschen ihnen anschließen würden. Die geraubte technische Ausrüstung übergaben sie der Türkei.
Als Reaktion auf die Offensive der syrischen Armee haben die von der Türkei und Saudi-Arabien unterstützen Kämpfer dieser Tage Raketen auf die friedlichen Stadtbezirke abgefeuert. Doch allein dank der Handlungen der syrischen Regierungstruppen und ihrer Bündnispartner hätten die „Einwohner von Aleppo endlich einen Hoffnungsschimmer erblickt“, schreibt Kinzer.
„Allerdings passt das alles nicht in Washingtons Version. Und so teilen die meisten amerikanischen Ausgaben Tatsachen mit, die dem wirklichen Geschehen widersprechen. In vielen Meldungen heißt es, dass Aleppo drei Jahre lang eine ‚befreite Zone‘ gewesen sei, nun aber erneut werde leiden müssen“, so der Politikwissenschaftler.
Die amerikanischen Medien erzählten, dass der Kampf gegen das Regime des syrischen Präsidenten Baschar al-Assad und seine Bündnispartner Russland und Iran eine tugendhafte Sache sei. Es wird angenommen, dass die US-Bürger hoffen sollen, dass die „tugendhafte Koalition der Amerikaner, Türken, Saudis, Kurden und der ‚moderaten Opposition‘ siegen werden“.
Das sei eine „raffinierte Lüge“, konstatiert der Experte. Doch man dürfe die einfachen Amerikaner nicht dafür verurteilen, dass sie das glauben, denn sie hätten praktisch keine wahren Informationen über die kämpfenden Seiten, über deren Ziele und Taktik. Und der größte Teil der Schuld hierfür laste auf den amerikanischen Medien, ist Stephen Kinzer überzeugt.
Nach seinen Worten haben die amerikanischen Medien wegen finanzieller Probleme die Zahl ihrer Auslandskorrespondenten wesentlich reduziert. Viele wichtige Nachrichten über die Ereignisse in der Welt schreiben Journalisten aus Washington. Die Reporter, die das Geschehen in Syrien beleuchten, ließen sich vom Pentagon, Außenministerium, Weißen Haus und von „Experten“ informieren. Und nach diesem Informationskarussell scheine den Journalisten, dass sie alle Seiten der Frage beleuchtet haben. Und gerade so entstehen die „leeren“ Meldungen, die als Nachrichten aus Syrien gebracht werden.
Die Journalisten in Washington würden zum Beispiel dem Auditorium weise machen, dass die al-Nusra-Front angeblich aus „Rebellen“ oder der „moderaten Opposition“ bestehe, wobei sie verschweigen, dass sie ein Ableger des berüchtigten Terrornetzwerkes Al-Qaida ist. Saudi-Arabien werde als Helfer der Kämpfer um die Freiheit Syriens dargestellt, wobei es in Wirklichkeit die Terrormiliz Daesh (auch Islamischer Staat, IS) finanziere. Die Amerikaner würden auch nichts darüber wissen, dass in der Türkei bereits seit mehreren Jahren „Rattenpfade“ existieren, über die sich Kämpfer aus anderen Ländern den Terroristen in Syrien anschließen. Doch „alles, was Russland und der Iran in Syrien tun, wird einfach deshalb als Destabilisierung dargestellt, weil eben sie es tun – und auch deshalb, weil es Washingtons politischer Linie entspricht“, resümiert Kinzer.
Nach seiner Einschätzung verdrehen amerikanische Politiker für ihren Wahlkampf die Tatsachen. So habe die Ex-Außenministerin Hillary Clinton unlängst erklärt, der Plan der Uno zur Syrien-Regelung sei aufgrund einer amerikanischen Initiative erstellt worden. In Wirklichkeit war es aber genau umgekehrt: Im Jahr 2012 hatten die USA, die Türkei, Saudi-Arabien und Israel den Friedensplan des UN-Generalsekretärs Kofi Annan erfolgreich „scheitern lassen“, weil er vorgesehen habe, in den Prozess der Syrien-Regelung den Iran einzubeziehen und Baschar al-Assad – zumindest zeitweilig – an der Macht zu lassen, bringt Stephen Kinzer in Erinnerung.
Politikern könne man für eine Verzerrung ihrer früheren Taten vergeben, den Regierungen sei es eigen, ihre Interessen voranzubringen. Doch es werde vorausgesetzt, dass die Journalisten „abseits der politischen Eliten und ihrer angeborenen Heuchelei bleiben“ müssen. Im Fall Syriens hätten die amerikanischen Journalisten ein volles Fiasko erlitten, resümiert Stephen Kinzer in seinem Beitrag.
PressTV - US Secretary of State John Kerry says he and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov have struck a provisional deal on terms of a cessation of hostilities in Syria, indicating that the two sides are still in disagreement on some issues.
"We have reached a provisional agreement in principle on the terms of a cessation of hostilities that could begin in the coming days," Kerry said Sunday, during a press conference with Jordanian Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh in the Jordanian capital city of Amman.
The top US diplomat, who was visiting Jordan to discuss with Judeh and King Abdullah the situation in the region, said the agreement was reached after repeated negotiations with Lavrov, that ran through early Sunday, according to Reuters.
Kerry also said that US President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin would be speaking in the next few days to complete the agreement in principle.
He declined to reveal any details, but according to the Russian Foreign Ministry, the ceasefire conditions exclude military operations against organizations "recognized as terrorist by the UN Security Council."
According to Kerry, any deal would take a few days, while the two sides consulted with other countries and the Syrian opposition.
Russia has to speak to the Syrian government and Iran, and the US has to speak to the Syrian opposition and its partners, Kerry said.
After days of negotiation, diplomats from the International Syria Support Group (ISSG), a group of countries including the US, Russia, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Iran, agreed on February 12 to seek a temporary "cessation of hostilities" in Syria. The ISSG also agreed to "accelerate and expand" deliveries of humanitarian aid to various besieged Syrian towns.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said Saturday that he was ready for a ceasefire to end the years-long bloodshed in the country, on condition that foreign-backed terrorists did not use a let-up in fighting to their advantage and that countries backing them halted their support.
Syria accuses Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Qatar of funding and arming terrorist groups operating inside the country, including Daesh (ISIL).
The Syrian opposition had earlier agreed to the "possibility" of a temporary truce, provided there were guarantees Damascus's allies including Russia would stop there airstrikes, sieges were lifted and aid deliveries were allowed country-wide.
Russia has been conducting airstrikes on the positions of Daesh and other militant groups in Syria since September 30, 2015, upon a request by the Assad government.
The US and some of its allies have also been pounding alleged Daesh positions in the Arab country since 2014, without getting approval from the Syrian government or the UN.
The foreign-sponsored conflict in Syria, which flared up in March 2011, has claimed the lives of some 470,000 people and left 1.9 million injured, according to the Syrian Center for Policy Research.
