Secretary of State John Kerry on Monday defended the Syria cease-fire he finalized with Russia late last week, even though the truce was reportedly violated by Syrian President Bashar Assad in its very first hour of operation, by indicating that the U.S. would be happy with “reduced violence” instead of the total cessation of violence.
“There will undoubtedly be reports of a violation here and there, I’m confident, but that is the nature of a beginning of a cease-fire, almost always,” Kerry told reporters at the State Department.
Kerry and the Russian government agreed that there would be “a nationwide cessation of hostilities” in Syria, that excludes al Nusra, an al Qaeda affiliate, and the Islamic State. Practically, that means that Russia is supposed to pressure Assad to stop bombing civilians while the United United States-backed rebel groups must stop fighting against Assad. Under the terms of the deal, the United States will agree to coordinate with Russia’s military against terrorists in the country if the truce holds for seven days.
But Assad carried out an attack on Syrian rebels within the first hour of the cease-fire, forcing Kerry to open his press conference with an explanation that “cessation” really means “reduced violence” for purposes of the agreement.
“As long as there is a sustained period of reduced violence —reduced violence — and increased humanitarian access — and by that, we mean seven consecutive days — the United states and Russia will set up a Joint Implementation Center to facilitate coordinated military action in response to the threat posed by [the terrorist groups],” Kerry said.
“If there is no compliance with the cessation of hostilities and no fulfillment of the principle of humanitarian access, then this arrangement, including the joint implementation center, will not go forward,” he added. But that seems to leave it up to the parties to decide whether the terms of the agreement have been met, and whether the violence has been reduced enough.
Russia has long sought to coordinate with the U.S. military against terrorist groups in part to weaken the indigenous opposition to Assad’s regime. Simultaneously, the U.S. has accused Russia of bombing civilians and U.S.-backed rebels while claiming to be attacking the Islamic State — bombings that the top U.S. general in NATO and Europe said took place as part of a strategy of “weaponizing migration” to create a refugee crisis in Europe.
Under the new deal, such attacks will cease — or be reduced, at least — and the United States will coordinate with Russia and even Assad’s military. “They will be permitted … to hit a designated, a known Nusra target,” State Department spokesman John Kirby said following Kerry’s remarks.
