Russian Air Strike Makes It Impossible to Implement Partial Syria Ceasefire
After world leaders came to a conclusion of a partial Syria ceasefire during the recent Munich Talks, Russia suggested that it may not succeed partly because of the absence of their participation on the plans. According to Reuters, the Syrian war escalated to new heights after the Russian government supported Syria, providing them with extensive air strike back-up.
U.S. State of Secretary John Kerry has since asked Russia's support on the ceasefire deal by changing their targets if they cannot adhere to a partial ceasefire. The U.S. has also asked the support of Syrian Kurds and Turkey to join the fight against the ISIS, which has a stronghold in larger parts of Syria.
Russia's role in escalating the current war in Syria has also reached new heights after gaining control of the area near Aleppo for the Syrian government. With Raqqa as their next target, this may come as a challenge as the ISIS has a strong hold in the province. A Syrian military force said, "It is an indication of the direction of coming operations towards Raqqa. In general, the Raqqa front is open ... starting in the direction of the Tabqa area."
According to The Guardian, opposition groups have little trust on Russia's ability to cooperate with the ceasefire saying, "No negotiation can take place while Russia is bombing our people, it is a certainty that Russia will continue to attack us while claiming to target al-Nusra. They claimed that their campaign in Syria was to fight Isis but, so far, 85 [percent] to 90 [percent] of their attacks were against the moderate revolutionary groups, with a high percentage of civilian targets."
British foreign secretary Philip Hammond implied that if Russia doesn't back down on their air strikes or at least show cooperation on the ceasefire, the opposition groups cannot be expected to join the ceasefire. "They cannot be expected to join in this process," he added.
A Free Syrian army member in Aleppo also questioned the inability of the U.S. to control the situation by citing how its efforts in saving the Syrian people is becoming useless because they are now the center of the attacks in Syrian war. Alexei Makarkin, deputy director at the Centre for Political Technologies, believes that Russia's apparent concern doesn't come as a protection for the Asaad governance but by its own personal interest.
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