Quickly saved this article last night: U.S. and Russia Spar Over Terms of Possible Syrian Cease-FireI`ll highlight the interesting bits
The U.S. and Russia on Thursday sparred over terms of a possible cease-fire in Syria, as they and other world powers met in Munich to try to restart peace talks that had collapsed amid an escalation of military operations by Russia and Iran in aid of the Assad regime.
Russia has offered to halt some of its bombing in support of the Syrian government’s forces by March 1, a U.S. official said. The U.S. has responded by calling for an immediate cease-fire, arguing that Russia would use the extra time to extend territorial gains for the regime and decimate U.S.-backed opposition forces.
Russia has NOT agreed to cease it's bombing entirely. I've no doubt the US will continue with it's bombing/resupplying of killers.
Meanwhile, meeting with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov described Moscow’s cease-fire proposal as “quite specific.”
The entire reason a ceasefire is being discussed at this time is due solely to the advances made around Aleppo which could possibly put Syria back together! The significance of this was discussed a month ago in this post: January 16/2016: Syrian Endgame Could Begin in Aleppo- Who Would Block This Pivotal Win?
‘Ask yourself what group or organization would want only to deny Syria’s combined allied forces from taking back Aleppo? The answer is NATO”
WSJ continues:
Russia, which has altered the balance of the five-year-long Syrian war with an intense bombing campaign on behalf of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, has said it is ready to negotiate a cease-fire. But countries backing the opposition to Mr. Assad, including Saudi Arabia and Turkey, are skeptical because a cease-fire would entrench Mr. Assad’s recent resurgence in a conflict that has already killed more than a quarter million people.
With world powers still far apart on Syria’s future, diplomats were trying to agree, at the least, on humanitarian aid for hundreds of thousands of people caught in the fighting. A deal on humanitarian aid, such as airdrops into besieged cities, could be tied to a broader agreement, some diplomats said, to restart United Nations-mediated peace talks in Geneva that collapsed last week.
“We have to see something,” said Salem al-Meslet, a spokesman for an umbrella group of U.S.- and Saudi-backed opposition forces that withdrew from last week’s Geneva talks amid the fresh Russian and Iranian pro-regime offensive. “We have to see food go to those children who are starving to death.”
Humanitarian aid will include arms:Aleppo: Syrian Actions- NATO Reactions
A pro-regime military campaign for the northern Syrian city of Aleppo, backed by Russian warplanes and Iran-linked militias, undermined the Geneva peace talks and allowed the regime to retake territory from the opposition. That put pressure on Western and Gulf governments, which are fighting the extremist group Islamic State and supporting insurgents fighting Mr. Assad, to bolster their efforts on the ground.
Translation: Aleppo cannot be allowed to go back to Syria as it was. So the US is suddenly willing to talk ceasefire. Hoping to impede SAA advancement and re arm the opposition.
Phillip Smyth, an analyst with the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, said winning Aleppo would give Iran and Russia tremendous leverage in affecting an eventual political settlement favorable to them and the regime.
As mentioned way back
In Brussels, coalition defense ministers also met on Thursday to assess the military campaign against Islamic State. American Defense Secretary Ash Carter opened that gathering by saying new efforts by the U.S. and fresh contributions by its allies would have an impact on the ground in Syria and Iraq.
Translation; Altering the balance of power on the ground. We already know additional special ops have been sent into Syria. We already know the US will lead all ground force ops. We already know the US is planning to pour weapons to the "opposition" aka NATO backed terrorists. Ashton Carter promises these moves will result in gains on the ground before the next meeting mid march.
He promised the assembled officials that they would see gains by the time U.S. military leaders convene another conference in mid-March. “By then, at the latest, we should begin to see tangible gains from those capabilities, the ones the coalition is already bringing to bear,” Mr. Carter said.
Mr. Carter ticked off a list of stepped-up contributions the allies pledged on Thursday and in recent days, including expanded airstrikes by Saudi Arabia and Canada’s expanded training mission
The stepped up contributions are mentioned in the previous post from today: US to Lead Ground Op In Syria- Turkey summons US Ambassador/Betrayal
Complicating U.S. efforts to advance peace talks in Syria (???) and rally a broad coalition to defeat Islamic State and other extremists are the diverging priorities of some of its regional allies. Both Saudi Arabia and Turkey remain focused on toppling the Assad regime, while NATO member Turkey also has the added goal of keeping Syria’s Kurds in check. Riyadh is also determined to push back Iran’s reach into Syria.
Complicating US efforts? I don't think so. It has been and still is the US/Israel that wants the Assad government toppled. Saudi Arabia is not complicating that issue. Turkey and Iran are.
Mr. Carter didn’t comment directly on the prospect of a Saudi-led ground force, but he voiced a note of skepticism, saying the coalition was focused on developing local forces to retake territory from Islamic State.“Our strategic approach, as a coalition—the one that makes sense—is to enable capable and motivated local forces to take and hold territory out of the simple recognition that at the end of the day, territory taken from ISIL has to be occupied and governed by people form the area,” he said, referring to Islamic State by one of the acronyms used by the West.
Translation: "Our strategic approach" is the very one I've informed my readership of all along. ISIS/L takes the territory belonging to existing nation states. PKK militias "fight" ISIS/L for the territory (both NATO backed groups) in order to enable these so called 'motivated local forces' to occupy and govern the annexed territory of several nations- Destroying, balkanizing, ruining Iraq, Syria, Turkey and eventually Iran in the process. In order to remake the ME and benefit Israel.I've stated plainly, clearly and concisely this is what is going on. It was obvious. It was all done right in plain sight. This is KurdIShIS. This is that symbiosis identified here so long ago. Mr Carter has just told you all, the same as I've told everyone here, what is and has been going on. Perhaps my detractors can call Mr Carter nasty names and ban him from their precious sites too?
As Thursday’s talks were getting under way, Syrians forced to flee their homes around Aleppo were running out of sanctuaries, as the fighting pressed closer to the Turkish border. Up to 60,000 Syrians have sought sanctuary along the frontier, as Turkish officials continue to stand by their decision to keep the border closed and to focus instead on establishing a new camp for displaced people on the Syrian side of the border.
It's very interesting to me when I read the sentence in read, highlighted in yellow above, to ponder how it is that Russia's bombing of Aleppo, along with the SAA and allies pushing up to the Turkish border, has provided Turkey with the very "safe zone" they wanted all along, but the US had prevented it's creation. Hmmmm....... curious. Turkey's idea at that time was to flood Syria with refugees from Turkey- However that is unnecessary now.
Flashback: Turkey: Creating "Safe Zones", Fighting for it's Survival, Turkey's letter to UN
WSJ:
Recapturing most of Aleppo province and the eastern half of Aleppo city and making advances elsewhere will make the regime and its allies the dominant force in the western half of Syria, which is home to the principal urban population centers Aleppo, Damascus, Homs and Latakia.
Thousands of fighters from Iran’s Revolutionary Guard force as well as affiliated Shiite militiamen mainly from Afghanistan, Iraq and Lebanon are currently leading the push in Aleppo in coordination with the Syrian regime’s forces on the ground and Russian warplanes in the sky.
Current Iran-led operations in Aleppo province commenced about six months ago and escalated at the end of September. Russia’s entry into the war on the side of the regime intensified at the start of February in tandem with the international efforts to launch peace talks in Geneva.
Since Feb. 1, those forces have captured at least a half dozen towns and villages from the opposition, encircled rebels in the eastern half of Aleppo and threaten completely to cut off the main rebel supply line from neighboring Turkey. The eastern half of Aleppo city, pummeled by years of regime barrel-bomb attacks and airstrikes, is now on the verge of completely being besieged by the Iran-led forces and cut off from the Aleppo countryside and the onward supply road to Turkey.
And the NATO global tyranny cannot have their killers cut off from their supply route via the Turkish conduit. This is not Turkey's operation. This is the US led NATO's operation. Turkey has shut down the border, coincidentally or not, at the same time as Syria is cutting of the main rebel supply route. The UN and the US are pressuring Turkey to re open that border. Get it, yet?
Elias Farhat, a retired Lebanese army general and military strategist, said that based on his conversations with those involved in the current Aleppo operation, most notably from the Iran-backed Lebanese militia Hezbollah, their goal is to capture the eastern half of Aleppo city and most of the province by June.
Aleppo city residents are also suffering from a water outage and a general shortage of fuel and electric power, Ms. Gasser’s statement added.
The US bombed those power stations some time ago- that information is here at the blog! Somewhere.... And the US did that intentionally!
The Syrian Kurdish militia YPG seized Minnigh air base and the adjacent town in the northern outskirts of Aleppo on Thursday, according to pro-government media and opposition activists. Shortly after the popular uprising against Mr. Assad in 2011, these Kurdish forces agreed on a truce with the regime (baloney, bull biscuits and lies) and have focused their efforts on establishing a self-ruled zone in Northern Syria and are fighting Islamic State and those who oppose the Kurdish agenda.
The tale of a truce has never been confirmed by the Syrian government and Mr Assad denied the Kurds were allies- that information is also here at the blog- That claim is very beneficial to the NATO war machine--- The Munich Agreement is a waste of time.
-Western diplomats confirmed that there had been no agreement by Moscow to immediately end airstrikes- Kerry told reporters the ceasefire would not apply to extremist groups including Isis and the al-Nusra Front.
“The cessation of hostilities will commence in one week, after confirmation by the Syrian government and opposition, following appropriate consultations in Syria. During that week, the ISSG taskforce will develop modalities for the cessation of hostilities.”
The ceasefire does apply to the Kurdish PKK militias backed by NATO. They will ignore it. They alongside their ISIS/Nusra brethren will be resupplied by the US.