US, Russia, Jordan reach cease-fire deal for southwest Syria
HAMBURG: The US, Russia and Jordan have reached a cease-fire and “de-escalation agreement” in southwestern Syria, one of the combat zones in a six-year-old civil war, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said on Friday.
The cease-fire will go into effect on Sunday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Jordan’s Petra news agency said.
Tillerson announced the deal after a meeting in the German city of Hamburg between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
He said the area covered by the cease-fire affects Jordan’s security and is a “very complicated part of the Syrian battlefield.”
“It is (a) well-defined agreement on who will secure this area,” he told reporters.
“I think this is our first indication of the US and Russia being able to work together in Syria, and as a result of that we had a very lengthy discussion regarding other areas in Syria that we can continue to work together on to de-escalate the areas,” Tillerson said.
He had said before going to Hamburg that the US was prepared to discuss joint efforts with Russia to stabilize Syria, including no-fly zones, cease-fire observers and coordinated deliveries of humanitarian assistance.
In another development, world leaders at the G-20 Summit acknowledged Trump’s divergent stance on climate change, according to a draft communique.
The draft underlines that the 2015 Paris climate accord is “irreversible” and affirms that other G-20 nations are committed to the deal while taking note of Washington’s decision to quit the agreement.
If the draft is confirmed in the final statement due to be published Saturday afternoon, it would reflect the 19-versus-the-US split over the issue.