Russia Sends to US Proposals on Ensuring Ceasefire in Syria - General Staff

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Russian General Staff said that Russia has sent proposals to the United States with general conditions and procedures necessary to ensure the cessation of hostilities in Syria.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – Russia has sent proposals to the United States with general conditions and procedures necessary to ensure the cessation of hostilities in Syria, the Russian General Staff said Saturday.

"Yesterday we sent a proposal to the US side, with standard terms and procedures necessary to ensure the cessation of hostilities," Lt. Gen. Sergei Rudskoi, the chief of the Russian General Staff‘s Main Operational Directorate, said.

According to Rudskoi, Russia and the United States will take measures to deescalate tensions if Syrian ceasefire violations are confirmed.

http://sputniknews.com/middleeast/20160227/1035442386/russia-syria-us-ceasefire.html

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1. News Analysis: Cessation of hostilities marks test step to end Syria crisis

UNITED NATIONS, Feb. 26, 2016 (Xinhua) -- Photo taken on Feb. 26, 2016 at the United Nations headquarters in New York, shows the UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura (on the screen) briefing the Security Council from Geneva through a video conference system. UN Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura said Friday that new round of Syria talks will resume on Mar. 7. (Xinhua/Li Muzi)

DAMASCUS, Feb. 27 (Xinhua) -- The cessation of hostilities in Syria could sustain or collapse, but it surely is a first step in a roadmap to end the conflict in Syria politically, and a procedure that could test the willingness of the warring parties in Syria to end the conflict, analysts said.

Even though the truce excludes the terror-designated groups of the Islamic State (IS) and the al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front, it is seen as the first ambitious move by the international community, reflecting the willingness of the superpowers to work to end the Syrian conflict, despite the fact that each power has its own agenda.

The apparent consensus between Russia and America has also reflected on the warring parties on ground, as each of them pledged to be committed to the truce.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2016-02/27/c_135136765.htm

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2. Russia halts Syrian airstrikes to secure cease-fire

MOSCOW -- Russia has grounded its warplanes in Syria to help secure a cease-fire brokered by Moscow and Washington that entered into force Saturday, a top military official said.

Lt.-Gen. Sergei Rudskoi of the General Staff of Russia's military said that while Russia will continue air strikes against the Islamic State group and al Qaeda's branch in Syria, Jabhat al-Nusra, it is keeping its aircraft on the ground for now "to avoid any possible mistakes."

Rudskoi said that 17 opposition units have contacted the Russian military to adhere to the truce that became effective at midnight local time.

He said the Russian military had established hotlines to exchange information with the U.S. military in order to help monitor the cease-fire and quickly respond to any conflict situations.

http://www.ctvnews.ca/world/russia-halts-syrian-airstrikes-to-secure-cease-fire-1.2795331

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4. UPDATE 1-Russia says not carrying out Syria air strikes to avoid mistakes

Feb 27 Russian war planes will not carry out any air strikes in Syria on Saturday in order to support a nascent cessation of hostilities and to avoid accidentally bombing the wrong targets, the Russian defence ministry said.

A ceasefire agreement entered into force at midnight under a U.S.-Russia plan which the United Nations has called the best hope for peace in the five-year conflict.

"Given the entry into force of the U.N. Security Council resolution that supports the Russian-American agreements on a ceasefire, and to avoid any possible mistakes when carrying out strikes, Russian military planes, including long-range aviation, are not carrying out any flights over Syrian territory on Feb. 27," the defence ministry said.

Sergei Rudskoi, a lieutenant-general in the Russian air force, told reporters at a news briefing that Moscow had sent the United States a list of 6,111 fighters who had signed up to the ceasefire deal and a detailed list of 74 populated areas which should not be bombed.

http://www.reuters.com/article/mideast-crisis-syria-russia-idUSL8N16609O?rpc=401

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3. Obama: 'Absolutely no ceasefire' in ISIS fight

President Obama on Saturday vowed that America’s military would continue grinding down the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) until it no longer exists.

“There will be absolutely no ceasefire in our fight against ISIL,” he said in his weekly address, using an alternate acronym for the terrorist group. “We’ll remain relentless.

“Beyond Syria and Iraq, we continue to use the full range of our tools to go after ISIL wherever it tries to take root, as we showed with our strike on an ISIL training camp in Libya,” Obama continued.

“With partners around the world, we’ll continue discrediting the ideology that ISIL uses to radicalize, recruit and inspire people to violence, especially online.”

http://thehill.com/policy/national-security/271027-obama-there-will-be-absolutely-no-ceasefire-in-our-fight-against

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5. Much noise:

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/M/ML_SYRIA_THE_LATEST?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2016-02-27-06-44-28

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10. Fierce fighting rages as IS attacks Kurds near Turkish border

YPG alleges that Islamic State fighters, not party to temporary truce deal, set out from Turkey to attack Kurdish-held positions

Fierce clashes were reported in northern Syria on Saturday between the Islamic State (IS) group and Kurdish fighters, despite attempts elsewhere in the country to implement an internationally backed ceasefire agreement aimed at halting most of the country's fighting after almost five years of war.

The Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG), which is fighting in northern Syria alongside the majority-Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), said in a statement on Saturday that IS "mercenaries" had launched an attack on the town of Tal Abyad at 23:00 local time.

IS is excluded from the ceasefire between pro-government forces and opposition groups because it is considered a terrorist organisation by the United Nations and by the US and Russia, which are both also bombing territory held by the group.

http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/fierce-fighting-reported-syrias-kobane-hours-after-truce-deal-comes-effect-1949490262

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6. Robert Fulford: Assad’s victory is at hand

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The High Negotiations Committee (HNC), representing the anti-government forces, expects an end to attacks on civilians, the freeing of prisoners and the delivery of food and medical supplies to regions isolated by war.

The president of Syria, Bashar Assad? Clearly he lives by narcissism and wishful thinking. He does not know, or believe, that he started the civil war when he turned soldiers loose on non-violent protesters opposing government policy. Eventually, the protesters and their friends answered violence with violence. Bombs have since turned much of Syria into rubble and transformed Assad into a major-league villain.

Yet he now expects that somehow he will be allowed to remain in power. And, if he pulls off a few more miracles, that may happen. There are said to be many Syrians who despise him and yet stay at his side in the wan hope that he can recreate the peaceful pre-war days, and because all known alternatives are even worse.

Russia is on his side, giving him hope for his future and stoking Vladimir Putin’s self-image as an international statesman.

http://news.nationalpost.com/full-comment/robert-fulford-assads-victory-is-at-hand

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7. Syria truce: Ceasefire halts most fighting; Russia suspends air strikes for one day

Fighting mostly stops across western and northern Syria under a cessation of hostilities which the United Nations says is best hope for peace since the civil war began five years ago.

Fighting has mostly stopped across western and northern Syria under a cessation of hostilities which the United Nations called the best hope for peace since the civil war began five years ago.

Under the US-Russian accord accepted by President Bashar al-Assad's Government and many of his enemies, fighting should cease so aid can reach civilians and talks can open to end a war that has killed more than 250,000 people and made 11 million homeless.

Russia, which says it intends to continue strikes against areas held by Islamist fighters that are not covered by the truce, said it would suspend all flights over Syria for the day on Saturday to ensure no wrong targets were hit by mistake.

http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/international/2016-02-27/syria-truce-ceasefire-halts-most-fighting-russia-suspends-air-strikes-for-one-day/1552970

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8. Turkish jets patrol border as Syria cease-fire largely holds

Turkey was on Feb. 27 closely following a landmark U.N.-backed cease-fire in Syria that came into effect at midnight in the war-torn country.

Turkish Air Force F-16s continuously patrol the Turkish-Syrian border with the cease-fire largely holding amid reports of some minor clashes and attacks.

The number of Turkish jets patrolling the border have been increased to 14, the biggest number in recent months except Nov. 25, 2105. One day after Turkey shot down a Russian warplane for violating its airspace, 18 Turkish F-16s were on patrol along the border.

The General Staff also said three boats and a mobile radar are being used to control the sea line bwteeen Hatay and Syria’s Latakia.

http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/turkish-jets-patrol-border-as-syria-cease-fire-largely-holds.aspx?pageID=238&nID=95776&NewsCatID=352

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9. U.N. Security Council Endorses Truce Deal for Syria

UNITED NATIONS — Against the backdrop of relentless airstrikes on rebel-held positions inside Syria, the United Nations Security Council on Friday unanimously endorsed a deal negotiated between the United States and Russia for a “cessation of hostilities.”

The United Nations mediator, Staffan de Mistura, said he hoped the pause could allow desperately needed food and medicines to get into towns under siege for months. And if the truce holds, he added, it could pave the way for political negotiations to resume on March 7.

“It is, potentially, a historic junction — to bring an end to the killing and destruction and to start a new life and new hope for the Syrians,” Mr. de Mistura said.

The truce does not apply to the Islamic State, or to Al Qaeda’s affiliate, known as the Nusra Front. A category vaguely described as “other” terrorist groups is also excluded. Russia has used this as a rationale for striking rebels that it contends are fighting alongside the Nusra Front.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/27/world/middleeast/in-syria-airstrikes-continue-as-truce-nears.html?_r=0

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11. A comment:

The basic idea here is to identify who is willing to put the guns down and talk, aside from IS, JaN etc. They will get to negotiate and assume political roles in the successor Syrian political entity(s), whatever that proves to be.

The guys that don't want to stop will get moved into the OK to bomb column.

Notice the emphasis placed on the fact that both the USA and Russia are going to bomb you if you don't stop, and some people do not get to stop.

Notice how quickly Assad jumped back into line after saying "I want it all."

But nobody, and I do mean nobody, is in a position to make them stop if they don't want to any time soon, so we will see.

The US-Russia military interaction is important too, it builds "confidence".

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12. Syria civil war: State-of-the-art technology gives President Assad’s army the edge

ou can see the Syrian army’s spanking new Russian T-90 tanks lined up in their new desert livery scarcely 100 miles from Isis’s Syrian “capital” of Raqqa.

There are new Russian-made trucks alongside them, and a lot of artillery and – surely Isis’s spies are supposed to see this – plenty of Syrian soldiers walking beside the perimeter wire beside Russian soldiers wearing floppy military hats against the sun, the kind they used in the old days in the summer heat of Afghanistan in the 1980s. There’s even a Russian general based at the Isriyah military base, making sure that Syrian tank crews receive the most efficient training on the T-90s.

No, Russian ground troops are not going to fight Isis. That was never the intention. The Russian air force attacks Isis from the air; the Syrians, the Iranians, the Afghan Shia Muslims from north-eastern Afghanistan, the Iraqi Shias and several hundred Pakistani Shias must attack Isis and Jabhat al-Nusra on the ground.

But the Russians have to be up in the desert to the east of the Aleppo-Hama-Homs-Damascus axis, both to train the Syrian tank crews and maintain an eastern base of forward air controllers to guide the Sukhoi bombers on to their night-time targets.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/syria-civil-war-state-of-the-art-technology-gives-president-assad-s-army-the-edge-a6898741.html