Diplomats agreed in Munich Friday to work toward a temporary, partial pause in the fighting in Syria within a week, but efforts to negotiate a full cease-fire fell short.

Russian warplanes continued their bombing runs over northern Syria on Friday, and Moscow’s envoys made clear that their military campaign supporting the Damascus government is still underway. The intensive Russian air campaign has shifted the balance of power after more than five years of civil war, and President Bashar al-Assad’s forces are poised to capture Aleppo city.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said Moscow’s airstrikes, ostensibly aimed at Islamic State terrorists, actually have targeted other insurgent groups in most cases, including those supported by the West.

Stoltenberg said the Russian bombings have “actually undermined efforts to reach a negotiated, peaceful solution” of the crisis in Syria. But the NATO chief said he is hopeful that Moscow can still play a “a more constructive role” in Syria.

“The important thing now is to see that this agreement is fully implemented on the ground,” Stoltenberg said, so humanitarian aid can reach civilians trapped in besieged areas of northern Syria.

‘Cessation of hostilities’ details

The agreement the NATO chief referred to was announced after midnight Thursday by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov - a plan for a “cessation of hostilities” in Syria within a week, with a formal cease-fire to follow at a later date. The deal was issued in the name of the 17-nation International Syria Support Group.

The main parties in the war, the Assad government and Syria’s multiple rebel factions, did not sign the “cessation of hostilities” agreement and are not bound by it. However, the ISSG says the “cessation of hostilities” can begin only after “confirmation by the Syrian government and opposition, following appropriate consultations in Syria.”

Under questioning Friday about what was accomplished, Kerry said the agreement for a partial, temporary truce in Syria is a significant accomplishment, but acknowledged it would be only a temporary pause in fighting. “The real test is whether all the parties honor those commitments and implement them,” he added.

More work is needed to develop the Munich agreement, which Kerry conceded is only “commitments on paper,” into a full-fledged cease-fire, U.S. officials said.

‘NATO will not intercept refugee boats’

Stoltenberg said NATO is supporting the ISSG by increasing monitoring and surveillance along the Turkish-Syrian border, the pathway for refugees heading toward Europe, and also is sending its “standing maritime group” to the Aegean Sea, the perilous route used by refugees traveling from Turkey to Greece in small boats.

“This is not about sending back the boats,” Stoltenberg told reporters in Munich, “but it is about NATO helping our allies - Greece, Turkey and the European Union - to better cope with the refugee and migrant crisis.”

Humanitarian access to battle-scarred northern Syria was to be discussed by an ISSG working group on Friday in Geneva. Kerry and Lavrov said their two countries would chair both the working group and a task force to work out the “modalities” of the temporary truce.

The task force will include military officials and representatives of other countries that are supporting various armed groups in Syria. Timing and other details about how a temporary truce would be expanded to a formal cease-fire presumably are among the “modalities” under discussion.

Moscow wanted more time before truce

Moscow originally proposed ending its airstrikes by March 1, according to media reports. Since that would have given Moscow and the Syrian army three more weeks to crush Western- and Arab-backed rebels, the U.S. team in Munich countered with demands for an immediate halt to the fighting.

In the background are deep divisions between the United States and Russia over which opposition groups are to be covered by the “cessation of hostilities,” and included in subsequent political talks. Moscow contends its military campaign is aimed only at two groups - the Islamic State and the al-Nusra Front, which is affiliated with al-Qaida - because they have been labeled as terrorist organizations by the United Nations.

Russia, Syria and Iran, which also is actively supporting the Assad regime, say other groups supported by Turkey, Saudi Arabia and other Arab states also should be excluded from any cease-fire.

Despite persistent complaints from communities in northern Syria that Russian bombs are destroying civilian areas, and images from Aleppo, which has been under heavy attack for more than a week, Lavrov denied that the Russian military targets any civilian areas.

 

Since 2011, the conflict in Syria has killed more than a quarter-million people - and possibly many more, according to revised estimates published this week - and created Europe’s biggest refugee crisis since World War II. [Read More]

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Source: VOA News: Bangladesh