US, Russia agree on new Syria cease-fire plan

The United States and Russia agreed on Monday on a new cease-fire for Syria that will take effect on Saturday, US officials said, even as major questions over enforcing and responding to violations of the truce were left unresolved. Where in Syria the fighting must stop and where counter-terrorism operations can continue also must be addressed.

The officials said the new timeline for the hoped-for breakthrough comes after the two former Cold War foes, which are backing opposing sides in Syria's civil war, agreed on terms for the "cessation of hostilities" between Syrian President Bashar Assad's government and armed opposition groups. Those sides must accept the deal by Friday.

The truce will not cover the Islamic State, the al-Qaeda-linked Nusra Front and any other militias designated as terrorist organisations by the UN Security Council. Both the US and Russia are still targeting those groups with airstrikes. An announcement is expected after presidents Barack Obama and Vladimir Putin speak by telephone on Monday, according to the officials, who weren't authorised to speak publicly on the matter ahead of time and demanded anonymity.


The war has killed more than 250 000 people, created Europe's worst refugee crisis since World War II and allowed the Islamic State to carve out territory across Syria and neighbouring Iraq.

Independent of Russia, a US-led coalition is carrying out a separate bombing campaigns in Syria, targeting ISIS militants. Even if the cease-fire takes hold, fighting will by no means cease in Syria.

Russia will surely press on with an air campaign that it insists is targeting terrorists, but which the US and its partners say is mainly hitting "moderate" opposition groups and killing civilians. While ISIS tries to expand its self-proclaimed caliphate in Syria and neighbouring Iraq, al-Nusra is unlikely to end its effort to overthrow Assad.

 The Kurds have been fighting ISIS, even as they face attacks from America's Nato ally Turkey. And Assad has his own history of broken promises when it comes to military action.