Diplomats agree to Syria cease-fire in a week

Despite the agreement on potential timing of the truce and to set up the task force, the US, Russia and others remain far apart on which groups should be eligible for it.

The announcements come as the Syrian army, backed by Russian air strikes, advanced attacks in the northern city of Aleppo.

As a result of the bombings, tens of thousands of people have fled to the border of Turkey.

JOHN KERRY: Putting an end to the violence and the bloodshed is obviously essential, as is providing Syrians, who are starving, the humanitarian aid that they desperately need.

Russian Federation has proposed a March 1 cease-fire, but Washington believes that will only give Moscow and the Syrian government three weeks to crush moderate rebel groups.

Participants said they had noted a new resolve in USA willingness to stand up to the Russians, who agreed in December to a United Nations resolution calling for a cease-fire in conjunction with peace negotiations.

“We will wait for the American response before we take it to the [International Syria Support Group]”.

“The mainstream media has been trying to divert attention away from the thing that is most important to all of us”, Lavrov said.

MCEVERS: Salem al-Muslet spoke to NPR’s Michele Kelemen who joins us now from Munich. And Kerry stressed that the longer the conflict persists there, the more extremists have to gain.

The diplomats have agreed to immediately accelerate and expand the delivery of humanitarian aid to besieged areas in Syria.

“The warring parties in Syria are constantly sinking to new depths, without apparently caring in the slightest about the death and destruction they are wreaking across the country”, Hussein, U.N. high commissioner for human rights, said.

Kerry and Lavrov agreed to implement a nationwide cessation of hostilities in one week’s time, although he acknowledged that the deadline was ambitious. But even a formal cease-fire would be partial – it excludes the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL, and the Nusra Front, both designated as terrorist organizations by the United Nations – and highly fragile.

KELEMEN: Well, that’s always the question. The regime now holds territory that almost encircles Aleppo city, the country’s main trade hub.

“A cease fire has a great many requirements, a cessation of hostilities does not”, Mr Kerry said.

“If everybody honors this process, hopefully there will be a transformation”, Kerry said.

Kerry is pushing for a quicker ceasefire and humanitarian access to places under siege, like Aleppo.

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KELEMEN: It’s been from the start. Lavrov often cites, as he did again tonight, the cases of Libya and Iraq, where, you know, you see what happens when a strongman is deposed.

Syria is a crucial ally and military staging post for Russian Federation and Iran, while observers say Moscow has benefited from the chaos created by the war, particularly the refugee crisis in Europe.

The minister also expressed his position on the political settlement in Syria saying it will be impossible putting for talks with ruling authorities in Damascus only part of the opposition forces having appointed the rest as ‘consultants’. Russia’s also holding up the possibility of joint humanitarian operation.

“When the Syrian government crossed the USA red line and used chemical weapons in 2013, the US worked with Russian Federation to rid Syria of its declared stockpiles”.

“We’re going to have a serious conversation about all aspects about what’s happening in Syria”, he told reporters in Munich.