Ceasefire, humanitarian aid agreement in place for Syria

Although foreign ministers from the International Syria Support Group managed to seal an agreement to “accelerate and expand” deliveries of humanitarian aid to besieged Syrian communities beginning this week, their failure to agree on a ceasefire leaves the most critical step to resuming peace talks unresolved. However, it was not clear if deep and festering differences between the US and Russian Federation on these issues could be overcome.

Secretary of State John Kerry, however, defended the agreement as what the Syrian opposition wanted.

And Michele reports that “officials keep reminding the Russians that they signed on to a U.N. Security resolution that calls for peace talks and that calls for humanitarian access”. “That is very much in line with their thinking and their hopes”, he said.

Britain’s Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond said if the deal was to work, Russian bombing would have to stop, and no cessation of hostilities would last if the country’s opposition continued to be targeted.

He also acknowledged that the agreements were “commitments on paper” only.

Kerry also said that the real test of talks will be whether all the parties involved honor their commitments and implement them in reality.

“A ground operation draws everyone taking part in it into a war”, Medvedev was quoted as saying in an interview published by the German newspaper Handelsblatt.

Up to 300,000 could be cut off from aid if the offensive by Syrian government forces and Iranian-backed militias encircles rebel-held eastern Aleppo, the United Nations has said.

Abdul-Jabbar Abu Thabet, a local rebel commander in the Aleppo province, said Thursday that Mannagh air base fell to the People’s Protection Units, or YPG, and their allies after fierce battles. The ISSG is the International Syria Support Group, a grouping of about 20 countries with interests in the conflict, that is due to meet later Thursday in Munich.

He described it as a “pause” in the long-running conflict but added a long-term solution depended on the Syrian government led by Bashar Assad and opposition groups engaging in “genuine negotiation” about the way forward.

The mood had been downbeat with rumours that Russian Federation had only offered a ceasefire from March 1, giving another three weeks for an offensive which the United Nations says could place 300,000 people under siege.

Turkey has also been the major transit country for Syrian refugees and other migrants headed for Europe, and the European Union has asked Ankara to help stop the flow by sealing its borders, fighting traffickers and housing even more refugees with European Union financial help.

At the same time in Brussels, U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter rallied new support for the fight against the Islamic State group in largely the same territory.

“I’m pleased to say that as a result today in Munich, we believe we have made progress on both the humanitarian front and the cessation of hostilities front, and these two fronts, this progress, has the potential – fully implemented, fully followed through on – to be able to change the daily lives of the Syrian people”, Kerry said.

Turkey, which has already taken in more than 2.5 million Syrian refugees over the past five years, said on Tuesday that it had allowed 10,000 people to cross in a “controlled fashion”.