The White House is setting a low bar for the U.S.-Russia brokered temporary ceasefire in Syria.
Just hours before a truce in the five-year old war was set to begin, Russia and the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad had stepped up airstrikes on Syrian rebel positions, raising the question of whether they will abide by the understanding.
Even though White House spokesman Josh Earnest repeated President Obama’s remarks from Thursday that “the world is watching,” he urged patience in determining whether the temporary “cessation of hostilities” would stick.
“It is unlikely that we’ll be able to judge the cessation of hostilities as a success or failure within the first couple of days or even within the first couple of weeks,” he said. “Because we do encounter some speed bumps along the way. There will be some potholes along the way. There will be some violations along the way.”
He noted, however, that the continued bombing by Russia and Assad Friday are “in direct conflict with the commitments that they made” in the agreement.
