Syrian ceasefire first sign of Russian-us spirit of co-operation
US President Donald Trump called for expanded co-operation with Russia yesterday, as a ceasefire brokered by the two powers and Jordan for southern Syria came into effect.
The ceasefire covering three war-torn provinces in southern Syria is the first tangible outcome following months of strategy and diplomacy between the new Trump administration and Russian President Vladimir Putin’s Moscow.
Trump tweeted that the ceasefire, which came into effect at noon yesterday, “will save lives”.
“Now it is time to move forward in working constructively with Russia!” he posted on Twitter shortly after the agreement came into effect.
A resident and local opposition activist in Daraa, near the Jordanian border, reported calm when the truce began.
“There’s still a lot of anxiety,” said Ahmad al-masalmeh. “We’ve entered the ceasefire but there are no mechanisms to enforce it. That’s what concerns people.”
Six years of fighting and siege have devastated Daraa, one of the first cities to see large protests against President Bashar Assad in 2011.
It remains contested by Usbacked rebels and Syrian government forces supported by Russia and Iran. Large swaths of the city have been reduced to rubble by government artillery and Russian air power.
The agreement followed weeks of secretive talks between the US, Russia and Jordan in Amman to address the build up of Iranian-backed forces, in support of the Syrian government, near the Jordanian and Israeli borders.
Israel has repeatedly said it would not allow Iran, which is a close ally of the Syrian government, to set up a permanent presence in Syria. It has carried out a number of air strikes in Syria against suspected shipments of “gamechanging” weapons bound for Hezbollah in Lebanon.
It has also struck Syrian military installations on several occasions this year after shells landed inside the Israeli-controlled side of the Golan Heights.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would welcome a “genuine ceasefire” in southern Syria so long as it does not enable Iran and its proxies to develop a military presence along the border.
The Trump administration has also ordered air strikes againstthesyriangovernment and Iranian-backed militias, in a break with Obama administration policy. The strikes, including one on a government air base in central Syria, drew only muted responses from Moscow.
No ceasefire has lasted long in the six-year-old Syrian war.