GENEVA — Russia and the United States reached agreement early Saturday on a new plan to reduce violence in the Syria
conflict that, if successful, could lead for the first time to joint
military targeting by the two big powers against Islamic jihadists in
Syria.
The
agreement was reached after 10 months of failed cease-fires and
suspended efforts for a political settlement in the Syria war, which
began more than five years ago, has left nearly a half-million people
dead and created the biggest refugee crisis since World War II.
Secretary
of State John Kerry and his Russian counterpart, Sergey V. Lavrov,
announced the agreement in Geneva after weeks of negotiations that were
marred, in President Obama’s words, by deep “mistrust” between the
Russians and Americans.
The
new arrangement is supposed to begin Monday in Syria, with a
seven-day-long continuous “genuine reduction of violence,” in Mr.
Kerry’s words, and broad, unrestricted humanitarian access to the
ravaged northern city of Aleppo and other besieged areas.
If
that works for the initial period, the United States and Russia are
supposed to immediately establish a Joint Implementation Center, where
they will share targeting data, and begin to bomb militants of the Nusra
Front and Islamic State.
The
key element is that Russia is then supposed to restrain the forces of
President Bashar al-Assad of Syria from conducting any air operations
over Nusra and opposition areas, which the United States hopes will
bring an end to the dropping of barrel bombs, including chlorine gas
attacks.
In
return, the United States is supposed to get the opposition groups it
has been supporting to separate themselves from Nusra forces. Mr. Assad
has attacked many of them on the pretense of attacking Nusra.
Mr. Kerry, usually the optimist, sounded extremely cautious about whether this new arrangement would work.
“We
believe the plan, if implemented, if followed, has the ability to
provide a turning point, a change,” he said. Sounding far more cautious
than he did in Munich in February when he announced an earlier
“cessation of hostilities” that failed, he said: “No one is basing this
on trust. We are basing it on oversight and compliance.”
The
accord was reached after sharp divisions inside the Obama
administration over the wisdom of sharing targeting information with
Russia, and accusations that the Russians have used the negotiating
period to help Mr. Assad to regain control in Aleppo and strike at
American-backed opposition groups.
Secretary
of Defense Ashton B. Carter has been among the most vocal of the
skeptics, saying this week, in Britain, that “Russia entered the Syrian
tragedy saying it wanted to counter terrorism and end the civil war,
which is the source of so much suffering, through a political
transition.”
“What
it has done is very different from what it said,” Mr. Carter said.
“Unfortunately, so far, Russia with its support for the Assad regime has
made the situation in Syria more dangerous, more prolonged, more
violent.”
Correction: September 9, 2016
An earlier version of this article misstated when the new arrangement between Russia and the United States is supposed to begin in Syria. The timing is Monday, not Sunday evening.
NYT
An earlier version of this article misstated when the new arrangement between Russia and the United States is supposed to begin in Syria. The timing is Monday, not Sunday evening.
NYT
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