Russia and the United
States have agreed to a ceasefire in southwest Syria starting from
midday on Sunday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov announced
Friday.
"Today in Amman Russian, American and
Jordanian experts... agreed on a memorandum of understanding to create a
de-escalation zone" in the regions of Daraa, Quneitra and Sweida,
Lavrov said.
"There will be a ceasefire in this zone from midday Damascus time on July 9."
Lavrov
was speaking at the G20 summit in Hamburg where he sat in on talks
between US President Donald Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin --
their first face-to-face meeting.
The agreement
includes areas that have seen Israel retaliate for stray fire into the
Israeli-occupied Golan Heights from recent clashes between Syrian regime
forces and rebel fighters.
Russia, an ally of
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, has been engaged in talks this year
with Turkey and Iran over four so-called de-escalation zones in the
war-torn country.
Negotiations in Astana this week failed to reach an agreement on the policing and precise borders of the zones, however.
Lavrov
said the ceasefire set to begin Sunday would be supervised by Russian
military police "in coordination with the Jordanians and Americans".
US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson confirmed the agreement.
Tillerson said it showed the United States and Russia were able to work together in Syria and that they would continue to do so.
"We
had a very lengthy discussion regarding other areas in Syria that we
can continue to work together on to de-escalate the areas and the
violence, once we defeat ISIS," he said using an acronym for the Islamic
State group.
Tillerson said they would also "work together towards a political process that will secure the future of the Syrian people".
In
Washington, a senior State Department official briefed reporters about
the ceasefire, saying the impulse for the move came from Washington and
from Moscow.
"If there's going to be a resolution of the conflict in Syria, we both need to somehow be involved in it," the official said.
"The
Russians are heavily invested in the conflict. We have an interest in
finding an end to it -- in ending the misery, in ending the violence, in
ending the refugee flows and the radicalization that emerges from it."
The United States has led a multi-national coalition since 2014 battling IS jihadists in Syria and neighbouring Iraq.
Jordan said it was party to what it called a "tripartite agreement" together with Russia and the United States.
"A
ceasefire will take place along a line of contact agreed upon between
the Syrian government forces and associated troops on one side and
rebels on the other," government spokesman Mohammed Momani said.
"The
three nations voiced their commitment to working on a political
solution" based on UN-backed talks in Geneva and UN Security Council
Resolution 2254, he said, quoted by the official Petra news agency.
Asked
about the ceasefire, British Defence Secretary Michael Fallon was
sceptical it would hold given the string of failures in the past.
"We
welcome any ceasefire, but let's see it, let's see the results on where
these safety zones are proposed," Fallon told a Washington think-tank.
"Let's not have the civilian population misled.
"If
they can be properly enforced then they are thoroughly welcome, and can
then get in the United Nations humanitarian aid that was promised,"
said Fallon.
The Syrian army had announced on Monday a unilateral ceasefire to halt fighting in Daraa, Quneitra and Sweida.
These
areas form one of the four de-escalation zones agreed under peace talks
in Kazakhstan brokered by rebel backer Turkey and regime allies Russia
and Iran.
The Syrian army's unilateral ceasefire was to have expired at midnight on Thursday.
Syria's
conflict evolved from a bloody crackdown on protests in 2011 to a
devastating war that has drawn in world powers, including Russia and the
US-led international coalition.
More than 320,000 people are estimated to have been killed and millions have been displaced.
