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Cease Fire Declared in Syria
After five years of blood-letting between a wide array of splinter groups, governments, and terrorists a temporary truce has been enacted in Syria:
In the run-up to the midnight (22:00 GMT) deadline, US President Barack Obama warned the Syrian government and Russia “the world will be watching”.
Russian jets were reported to have intensified attacks on Syrian rebel positions on Friday.
Meanwhile, the UN special envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura has announced that peace talks will resume on 7 March if the truce “largely holds”.
The UN Security Council also unanimously adopted a resolution drafted by the US and Russia that endorsed the truce agreement.
The pause in warfare is between government and nearly 100 rebel factions, but does not include ISIS or Al Qaeda’s Syrian affiliate the Al Nusra Front. The question is, will a cease fire hold until March 7 — or even through the weekend?
Published in Foreign Policy
He should draw a red line.
God willing this will stick, the poor Syrians have been though enough.
Jon,
I used to say about agreements between the terror groups and Israel that the cease-fire wouldn’t last 20 minutes. Then I visited Israel and realized that I was wrong. The cease-fire was just a headline and the Jihadis kept shooting without a pause.
It was a virtual cease-fire.
Regards,
Jim
So, not a cease fire at all then, just a PR stunt for Kerry and Obama to act like they are doing something.
I doubt that Turkey, who is basically backing ISIS is fooled by any of this.
If they give Obama and/or Kerry the Nobel Peace Prize for this I’m going to throw up. But it’s not unlikely.
Well, another problem solved then.
“The world will be watching.” That solves everything.
Right? That is something that most people don’t appreciate. Wars and belligerence start do to lack of attention from the smart guys in Davos. All these poor fighters needed was a little guidance.
Somehow this from Gen. Phillip Breedlove seems relevant: