Diplomats yesterday agreed to work toward a temporary “cessation of hostilities” in Syria’s civil war within a week, although efforts to secure a lasting ceasefire fell short.
The deal appeared to be the result of a compromise between the US, which had wanted an immediate ceasefire, and Russia, which had proposed one to start on March 1.
Although foreign ministers from the International Syria Support Group managed to seal an agreement to “accelerate and expand” deliveries of humanitarian aid to besieged Syrian communities beginning this week, their failure to agree on a ceasefire leaves the most critical step to resuming peace talks unresolved.
Photo: EPA
It was not clear from their comments afterward if deep differences regarding the truce and which groups would be eligible for it could be overcome.
Speaking for the group, US Secretary of State John Kerry hailed the results as a significant accomplishment, but said that a cessation-of-hostilities deal, if one could be achieved, would only be a “pause” in fighting and that more work would need to be done to turn it into a fully fledged ceasefire.
However, he also said that the agreements made were “commitments on paper” only.
“The real test is whether or not all the parties honor those commitments and implement them,” Kerry told reporters after the nearly six-hour meeting at a Munich hotel, which ran into the early hours of yesterday.
Dramatizing the high-stakes nature of the Munich talks was Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev’s statement that a full-scale ground operation in Syria could widen the conflict.
“A ground operation draws everyone taking part in it into a war,” Medvedev was quoted as saying in an interview published by the German newspaper Handelsblatt.
Asked about a recent proposal from Saudi Arabia to send in ground troops to Syria, the prime minister said: “The Americans and our Arab partners must consider whether or not they want a permanent war.”
Medvedev criticized Western powers’ refusal to collaborate with Russia in Syria. He said that ties at the level of defense departments are only sporadic.
Meanwhile, humanitarian access to Syria was to be discussed by a working group yesterday in Geneva. It is key to relieving the suffering of millions of Syrians in the short term.
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