U.S. reaches deal with Russia, Jordan for cease-fire in limited area of Syria
WASHINGTON — The United States, Russia and Jordan have agreed to foster a cease-fire in a limited area of southwestern Syria that will begin at noon Sunday, Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson said Friday after the first faceto-face meeting between President Donald Trump and President Vladimir Putin of Russia.
The agreement came after months of negotiations among the three countries. A senior State Department official who was involved in the talks said important pieces of the deal remained to be hammered out in the coming days, including who would monitor and enforce the pause in violence.
“I think this is our first indication of the U.S. and Russia being able to work together in Syria,” Tillerson told reporters Friday night in Hamburg, Germany, after the more than two-hour meeting between Trump and Putin.
“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 and violence once we defeat ISIS, and to work together toward a political process that will secure the future of the Syrian people.”
The agreement hinges on a boundary line — as set by the United States, Russia and Jordan — between areas of control for the warring forces and state proxies, the State Department official said.
But outlawed factions could refuse to abide by the agreement and even work to undermine it, the official said.
Moscow has assured the United States that the government of President Bashar Assad of Syria will abide by the agreement, the official said.
The assent of the government in Damascus came even though the United States continues to insist that neither Assad, nor any member of his family, can have a longterm role in the country’s leadership.
News of the agreement was first reported by The Associated Press.
Tillerson said Trump and Putin spent much of their meeting discussing the Syrian conflict.
“And I would tell you that, by and large, our objectives are exactly the same. How we get there, we each have a view,” Tillerson said. “But there’s a lot more commonality to that than there are differences. So we want to build on the commonality, and we spent a lot of time talking about next steps.”