Syrian Govt, Rebels Accept Cessation of Hostilities

The Syrian government and rebel groups have accepted a plan for a cessation of hostilities expected to begin on Saturday, with the United States warning that it would be hard to hold the country together if the fighting did not stop.

With hostilities reported on several fronts, rebels backed by Saudi Arabia expressed doubts about the proposal, which excludes attacks by the Syrian army and its Russian backers on the jihadist groups Islamic State and the al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front. Saudi-backed rebels said Russia had stepped up air strikes since the plan was announced on Monday.

For its part, the government in Damascus has made clear that continued foreign help for the rebels could wreck the deal. Secretary of State John Kerry said the United States would soon know if the plan would take hold. “The proof will be in the actions that come in the next days,”he told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in Washington.

If a political transition to a government to replace the current administration does not unfold in Syria, there are options, Kerry said, in a reference to undefined contingency plans believed to include military action.

The next month or two would show if that transition process was serious and Assad would have to make“some real decisions about the formation of a transitional governance process that’s real,”Kerry said. Faced with skepticism about the cessation plan, Kerry said that things in Syria could get uglier.

“It may be too late to keep it as a whole Syria if we wait much longer,” he said. Kerry insisted Washington is working on ways to react if diplomacy does not work.“There is a significant discussion taking place now about Plan B if we don’t succeed at the table,”Kerry said.