U.S., Russia announce truce in Syria to start Feb 27

PanARMENIAN.Net - The U.S. and Russia have announced that a planned cessation of hostilities in Syria will come into effect at midnight on Feb 27, BBC News reports.

Their statement said the truce did not include so-called Islamic State (IS) and the al Qaeda-linked Nusra Front.

World powers agreed on Feb 12 that a truce would come into effect within a week, but that deadline passed and skepticism remains over the new plan.

Last weekend 140 died in bombings in Homs and Damascus as the violence continued.

More than 250,000 Syrians have been killed in the conflict which began in March 2011. Some 11 million others have been forced from their homes, of whom four million have fled abroad - including growing numbers who are making the dangerous journey to Europe.

Separately, Syria's government has called a parliamentary election for April 13. The last was in 2012 and they are held every four years.

The White House said that President Barack Obama had phoned his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin at Putin's request to discuss the efforts to establish the cessation of hostilities. After their phone call, the joint Russian-U.S. statement was released.

The truce applied to "those parties to the Syrian conflict that have indicated their commitment to and acceptance of its terms", the statement said. This excluded IS, Nusra and "other terrorist organizations designated by the UN".

Air strikes by Syria, Russia and the U.S.-led coalition against these groups would continue, the statement read. It said that armed opposition groups taking part would have to confirm their participation by midday on Feb 26, according to the BBC.

Russian and Syrian planes would halt any attacks on the armed opposition groups.

Russia and the U.S. will work together to "delineate territory where groups that have indicated their commitment to and acceptance of the cessation of hostilities are active".

The deal also sets up a communications hotline and calls for a working group to monitor ceasefire violations.

Syria's main opposition grouping, the High Negotiations Committee, said it would accept the truce, but its commitment was conditional on the lifting of sieges, an end to attacks on civilians, the freeing of prisoners and the delivery of aid.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry welcomed the deal, saying: "If implemented and adhered to, this cessation will not only lead to a decline in violence, but also continue to expand the delivery of urgently needed humanitarian supplies to besieged areas."

A spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition fighting IS in Syria, Col Steve Warren, said he believed that IS was "beginning to lose". He said the number of Islamic State fighters in Iraq and Syria, previously placed at between 19,000 and 31,000, was now between 20,000 and 25,000.

"They have been able to replenish their forces at roughly the same rate as we've been able to kill their forces. That's hard to sustain," Col Warren said.