US, Russia Reach Agreement For Ceasefire In Southwest Syria

[DonViejo]

Source: Associated Press




By VIVIAN SALAMA, JOSH LEDERMAN and KEN THOMAS Published JULY 7, 2017 12:05 PM

HAMBURG, Germany (AP) — U.S. officials say the United States and Russia have reached an agreement for a cease-fire in southwest Syria.
The cease-fire is set to take effect July 9 at noon Damascus time. Word of the cease-fire has emerged as President Donald Trump is meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The officials weren’t authorized to discuss the cease-fire publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity. The deal marks a new level of involvement for the U.S. in trying to resolve Syria’s civil war.

A separate deal to create “de-escalation zones” was brokered Russia, Turkey and Iran, but not the U.S. Follow-up talks this week in Kazakhstan to finalize a cease-fire in those zones failed to reach a deal.

Read more: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/us-russia-reach-deal-syria-ceasefire

[heaven05]

1. won't last....period

"peace and safety", then the feces will hit the rotating oscillator.

[Cryptoad]

3. May allow ISIS to relocate out of Syria,,,,,,

[Cryptoad]

2. Who is carrying whose water,,,??????

I guess Comrade Trump got new marching orders!

[flibbitygiblets]

4. And all it cost was a bunch of stupid diplomatic sanctions! Wow, that was fast.

[karynnj]

5. At some point a ceasefire will hold - when both sides see that they will lose more fighting

Last edited Fri Jul 7, 2017, 02:03 PM - Edit history (1)

The one thing that is confusing here is that this seems to be a bilateral agreement between Russia and the US and there is no mention of them actually having agreement from Syria or the rebels. Not to mention, while this is is a new level of diplomacy by the Trump administration, the Obama administration brokered several ceasefires for the entire country - not just one section -- that all failed - the longest lasting was only around a month. The problem, per Kerry and others, was that neither the US or Russia were able to get their Syrian allies to abide by the terms. However, the Obama administration did get the UN resolution on Syria passed - after getting agreement with Russia, Saudi Arabia and Iran.

As ISIS is near losing all land, this might be the best time to get a diplomatic deal - likely using the UN resolution's framework.

[Javaman]

6. that's nice, but what do the people fighting and living there have to say about this? nt

[sinkingfeeling]

7. Uh, were the USA and Russia fighting each other? I would think a cease fire

would have to be between the combatants. Wouldn't that include Syria, rebels, and ISIL?

[Tommy_Carcetti]

8. Which means the shooting some missiles at an empty airbase was a one and done thing.

Please proceed, Assad.

[SunSeeker]

9. This only props up Asad--who is in Southwest Syria. He's been gassing civilians in the North.

This does nothing to stop Asad's atrocities against civilians, including using chemical weapons on children, which is occurring in the Northeast. As Richard Engel just pointed out on MSNBC, this Southwest Syria ceasefire only protects Asad--which is what the Russians want. He can sit in peace in his little protective ceasefire zone in Southwest Syria while he continues to bomb the shit out of the rest of the country. This is such a sick joke. Putin totally played our ignoramus of a president.

[maxsolomon]

10. Does it include close air support for the assault on Raqqa?

Russia/Syria have little interest in that theatre.