Russian Federation proposes March 1 ceasefire in Syria; US wants it now

As it tries to navigate a truce to spur peace talks, the administration has become increasingly torn in between its loyalty to Turkey as a North Atlantic Treaty Organisation ally and to its longtime Arab partner, Saudi Arabia, and the cold pragmatism of Russian Federation.

Later, Kerry’s spokesman John Kirby said that the Munich talks would be a “decision point” on whether or not the global effort to find peace can succeed in mediating a ceasefire.

“There are indications that the leadership of the Islamic State keeps secret contacts with Turkish officials”, he said.

The latest round of negotiations between delegates from the Syrian government and divided opposition were suspended in the Swiss city of Geneva on February 3 only few days after their shaky following the opposition’s failure to show up.

The timing of the ceasefire call is likely to be treated with suspicion, as it would allow bombing to continue for another three weeks, during which period the military of President Bashar al Assad could complete its capture of rebel-held Aleppo and consolidate its advance. He urged a “robust campaign, not a tentative one, not one that seems like we’re dragging ourselves in…to destroy ISIS and get rid of Assad”.

And the U.S.is anxious that the opposition could suffer irreversible losses in northern and southern Syria. Kerry had pressured the Syrian opposition leaders to attend, even warning they could lose their USA funding if they boycotted. He said the Aleppo battle makes it “much more hard to be able to come to the table and to be able to have a serious conversation”.

The U.S., Russian Federation and other countries will discuss different options for ending the Syrian civil war in Munich this week.

The war has killed a quarter-million people and created the greatest refugee crisis since World War II. President Tayyip Erdogan said, referring to Washington’s backing of the group against Islamic State. With Iran, Russia wanted a political agreement whereas in Syria it is pushing for a military victory by the Syrian government.

Ankara also insisted on expelling Kurds from the Syria peace talks, which is “Turkey’s arrogant position not seeing eye-to-eye by anybody else”, Lavrov stressed, noting that Washington has already, though anonymously, proclaimed the Kurds being allies against Islamic State.

On Monday, Russia’s ambassador to the United States had admitted to journalists that it would be hard to get the talks re-started-but put the blame on the opposition “terrorists” fighting Assad.

Russian Federation says its air strikes have been targeting Islamic State, a militant Islamist group that has seized large parts of Syria and Iraq, and not Western-backed opposition groups.

Kerry said in an interview with David Ignatius, a journalist at The Washington Post, that he has hoped Moscow would realise that reaching a peaceful solution would guarantee a political transition that would serve its interests since the beginning of the Russian intervention in the Syrian conflict.