US, Russia reach Syria truce deal

HAMBURG: The US and Russia have reached agreement on a ceasefire in southwest Syria, three US officials said on Friday.

The deal marks a new level of involvement for the US in trying to resolve Syria’s civil war.

Though details about the agreement and how it will be implemented weren’t immediately available, the cease-fire is set to take effect on Sunday at noon Damascus time, said the officials on condition of anonymity. Jordan and Israel also are part of the agreement, one of the officials said.

The two US allies both share a border with the southern part of Syria and have been concerned about violence from Syria’s civil war spilling over the border.

The deal is separate from “de-escalation zones”, to be created under a deal brokered by Russia, Turkey and Iran earlier this year. The US was not a part of that deal. Follow-up talks this week in Kazakhstan to finalise a ceasefire in those zones failed to reach agreement.

The US and Russia have been backing opposing sides in Syria’s war, with Moscow supporting Syrian President Bashar Assad and Washington supporting rebels who have been fighting Assad. Both the US and Russia oppose the Islamic State group in Syria.

The US has been wary of letting Iran gain influence in Syria — a concern shared by Israel and Jordan, neither of which wants Iranian-aligned troops amassing near their territories. A US-brokered deal could help the Trump administration retain more of a say over who fills the power vacuum left behind as the Islamic State is routed from additional territory in Syria.

Though US and Russian officials had been discussing a potential deal for some time, it didn’t reach fruition until the run-up to Trump’s meeting with Putin on the sidelines of the Group of 20 economic summit in Germany, officials said.