Why the U.S. is skeptical of Saudi involvement in Syria

Rebel groups fighting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad will only halt hostilities if his forces and their Russian and Iranian allies stop targeting them by February 18 in line with the accord negotiated by major powers in Munich on Thursday, said Salem al-Muslet, chief spokesman for the High Negotiations Committee. The US hopes that implementation of an agreement by the International Syria Support Group (ISSC) to arrange a ceasefire in Syria within a week will avert Saudi military intervention.

Two Syrian rebel commanders told Reuters on Friday insurgents had been sent “excellent quantities” of Grad rockets with a range of 12 miles by foreign backers in recent days to help confront the Russian-backed offensive in Aleppo.

Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said a task force must try to deal with the “modalities” of the temporary truce.

Moscow says its more than four-month-old bombing campaign in Syria targets ISIS and other “terrorists”, but critics accuse Russian Federation of focusing on mainstream rebels. The plan would see a cessation of hostilities implemented in as little as a week, and also demands humanitarian aid access to all of Syria.

He went on to stress that the United Nations remains committed and ready to deliver aid and protection for civilians in desperate need, whoever and wherever they are.

Jordan’s King Abdullah is urging the global community to “act as one” diplomatically to stop the civil war in Syria. Shi’a Iran and Sunni conservative Saudi Arabia – the two bitter rivals for regional superiority – are locked in a political and diplomatic standoff.

“Unless and until there is a change in Syria, Daesh will not be defeated in Syria”, al-Jubeir said, using the Arabic acronym for IS.

Iran, Russia and Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement are propping up the Alawite-led Assad government, while Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar back the more moderate Sunni-dominated opposition, along with the US, UK and France.

Later in the day, a statement issued by a spokesperson for Steffan de Mistura, the UN Special Envoy for Syria, said the meeting had been chaired by his Senior Advisor Jan Egeland.

Emphasizing the need to activate the private sector to develop trade-economic cooperation, Zarif said sanctions removal is a prelude to the expansion of bilateral cooperation.

Syrian state television announced the army and allied militia had on Saturday captured the village of al-Tamura overlooking rebel terrain northwest of Aleppo. “That’s why most of their reports are politicized and serve a political agenda”, he said.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported advances in the same area, adding that Russian jets had hit three rebel-held towns near the Turkish border.

Tens of thousands are continuing to flee Syria amid the fighting, which has resulted in the deaths of more than 260,000 people since 2011.

The 17-nation International Syria Support Group, which includes Turkey and Saudi Arabia, also agreed that “sustained delivery” of humanitarian aid would begin “immediately”.

But the working group emerged with a document that showed a surprising level of co-operation between the key players, despite rising tensions over Moscow’s bombing campaign.

Earlier Friday, Russian news agencies said Lavrov and Stoltenberg discussed holding a meeting of the Russia-NATO Council, but agreed that the agenda for the meeting still needs to be worked out.