The countries and organizations leading talks to secure a cease-fire in Syria reiterated their call on Tuesday for countries to adhere to the fragile cease-fire there, and to work with their allies in the region to comply.
The International Syria Support Group, as the 26-party alliance led by the United States and Russia is known, issued a statement from Vienna, Austria, aimed at enforcing the cease-fire and boosting political negotiations between President Bashar Assad’s regime and rebel groups.
The ISSG “urged full compliance of the parties to the terms of the cessation, including the ceasing of offensive operations, and undertook to use their influence with the parties to the cessation to obtain this compliance,” the statement said.
It also instructed “all parties to the cessation to refrain from disproportionate responses to provocations and to demonstrate restraint.”
The statement was issued amid ongoing complaints from Syrian rebel groups that Russia is contributing to Assad’s violations of the cease-fire.
The statement “welcomed” Russia’s pledge to “work with the Syrian authorities to minimize aviation operations over areas predominantly inhabited by civilians or parties to the cessation.”
The group stressed that operations against the self-proclaimed Islamic State and its allies cannot be pretexts for violating the cease-fire and attacking civilians.
“[T]he parties should avoid any attacks on parties to the cessation and any attacks on civilians” when combating Islamic State and Nusra Front, both of which the United Nations has labeled terrorist groups.
The statement warns that “persistent non-compliance” with cease-fire terms could lead to “the exclusion of such parties from the arrangements of the cessation and the protection it affords them.”
The statement instructs the United Nations to begin food drops to designated areas if it cannot get sufficient humanitarian access by June 1, and “calls on all parties to the cessation of hostilities to provide a secure environment for that program.”
Furthermore, Russia and the U.S. joined cease-fire parties in pledging “to ensure that humanitarian aid convoys are used solely for humanitarian purposes.” It also underscored the Aug. 1 deadline for the feuding parties to reach a framework agreement for a transition of governing power.
