US secretary of state, John Kerry, said Sunday he reached an agreement with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov on starting a ceasefire in Syria.
Syrian president Bashar Al-Assad said Saturday he is amendable to a ceasefire to end the war but needs assurance that terrorists would not take advance of the ceasefire to capture more Syrian territories. The Syrian opposition is committed if the ceasefire will stop Russian strikes in Syria and allow aid to be delivered to Syrian cities.
Kerry said in a press conference with his Jordanian counterpart Nasser Gouda that he agreed with Russia that the ceasefire should commence this week. Lavrov confirmed he spoke to Kerry in a phone call about the ceasefire in Syria, with the exception of any terrorist cells.
“The heads of the foreign affairs’ authorities, as co-chairs of the International Syria Support Group, and in compliance with its decisions of 12 February, continued discussing procedures and terms for stopping military actions in Syria, with the exception of operations against certain organisations, which the UN Security Council has confirmed as terrorist cells,” Lavrov said in a statement.
Kerry said the procedures for ending warfare are now being completed: “In fact, we are closer to a ceasefire today than we have been.”
According to Kerry, Russia should convince the regime and Iran of the agreement, while the US will consult with the opposition.
