US, Russia Reach Agreement For Ceasefire In Southwest Syria

FILE - In this May 18, 2017 file photo, a Syrian National flag hangs out of a damaged building at the mountain resort town of Zabadani in the Damascus countryside, Syria. The Syrian government on Tuesday, June 27, 20... FILE - In this May 18, 2017 file photo, a Syrian National flag hangs out of a damaged building at the mountain resort town of Zabadani in the Damascus countryside, Syria. The Syrian government on Tuesday, June 27, 2017 dismissed White House allegations that it was preparing a new chemical weapons attack, as activists reported an airstrike on an Islamic State-run jail in eastern Syria that they said killed more than 40 prisoners. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar, File) MORE LESS
Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter
HAMBURG, Germany (AP) — U.S. officials say the United States and Russia have reached an agreement for a cease-fire in southwest Syria.

The cease-fire is set to take effect July 9 at noon Damascus time. Word of the cease-fire has emerged as President Donald Trump is meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The officials weren’t authorized to discuss the cease-fire publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

The deal marks a new level of involvement for the U.S. in trying to resolve Syria’s civil war.

A separate deal to create “de-escalation zones” was brokered Russia, Turkey and Iran, but not the U.S. Follow-up talks this week in Kazakhstan to finalize a cease-fire in those zones failed to reach a deal.

The U.S. and Russia have been backing opposing sides in Syria’s war.

Latest News

Notable Replies

  1. This is nothing new in case anyone was deluding themselves into believing it is. There have been several ceasefires, all obviously broken to continue the fighting and all accompanying finger-pointing and blame. I’m not impressed with this. This is peanuts…but tRump will think he did a big thing here. It wasn’t tRump. This was Putin’s freebie. After that, tRump is on his own, unless sanctions are lifted for Russia, per Putin’s request.

  2. Avatar for daled daled says:

    My Question: What did Trump give up to Russia to accomplish this? /cynicism

  3. Avatar for sandi sandi says:

    Did anybody in Syria agree to this ceasefire?

  4. Once you’ve agreed on a ceasefire, don’t forget to tell the people who are actually holding the guns.

Continue the discussion at forums.talkingpointsmemo.com

1 more reply

Participants

Avatar for system1 Avatar for daled Avatar for sandi Avatar for srfromgr Avatar for mattinpa Avatar for steviedee111 Avatar for brian512

Continue Discussion
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Deputy Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: