Analyst:

No Guarantee on Syrian Militants Abiding Russia-US Ceasefire Deal

Rasa - A political analyst said on Sunday that there is no guarantee that the long-awaited deal Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and US Secretary of State John Kerry have inked to put an end to violence in Syria, would be abided by militant groups backed by the US and some other foreign countries.

News ID: 423436

Date: 11 September 2016 - 21:52

RNA - Political analyst and journalist, Vanessa Beeley said that militants backed by the United States, the European Union, NATO and some Arab states are the "main stumbling blocks" when it comes to implementing the new agreement, Sputnik reported.

The secession of hostilities is expected to enter into force on September 12.

"Historically, again, the reason that the ceasefires have failed is because the terrorists have not respected" them, the journalist, who recently visited Syria. Beeley cited two villages in Idlib, Kafarya and Foua, besieged since March 2015 as an example.

"There has never been a respect of the ceasefire there," she said.

"The shelling of civilian houses has continued through all of the ceasefires and largely been ignored by Western media. And absolutely no humanitarian aid has been allowed into Kafarya and Foua since March 2015 except for a couple of very poorly equipped UN convoys that made it through."

Both Lavrov and Kerry emphasized that the new deal will only work if all stakeholders involved in the Syrian conflict will fulfil their part of the agreement. America's top diplomat said that the anto-Syrian government groups "have indicated they're prepared" to meet the "standards that we have established."

This is something that Beeley was skeptical about. "What guarantees are the United States, the Persian Gulf states and Turkey giving that the terrorists that they control, equip, fund and arm are not going to break the ceasefire?" she asked.

The journalist also noted that the Syrian government has to be allowed "to respond" if terrorists do not respect the ceasefire.

"So my question is: Are the terrorists going to be respecting the ceasefire? And if they are not, the Syrian government and the Syrian national army have to have the right to respond. And this has been the difficulty of all the ceasefires," she noted.

Beeley also pointed to a recurring pattern when a US-sponsored secession of hostilities was introduced at a time when the Syrian Army secured major victories against terrorists trying to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad.

"Yet again we have seen huge advances made by the Syrian Army. If they retake areas in Southern and Southeastern Aleppo, it would then mean that the road to Damascus from Southern Aleppo will be reopened for the first time in years because it is under terrorist control," she detailed, adding that these positive developments could be "derailed" by the ceasefire.

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