The cease-fire seems to have been worked out in the wake of Trump-Putin face-to-face meeting at G20 summit as a success of the meeting. The US President Donald Trump appeared totally isolated from other Western big powers in the summit and was courting on Putin’s favours to make his presence noticeable. It is the first joint U.S-Russian effort under Trump’s Presidency to stem Syria’s six-year long bloody civil war but evidently with the USA surrendering its stance to remove President Bashar al-Assad from power toeing the Russian line.
Though it is not clear if the new cease-fire is the first attempt to compartmentalize the war-torn country in various influence zones under US-Russian protection; what many fear is that the new Syria that will merge from the war may not be as united and harmonious as before. Moreover the fate of Assad will remain hanging when peace will never come to the country keeping him in power in any form. But it appears all sides are already weary of the civil war and believe that there must be new breakthrough to end it. The reconciliation negotiation by warring parties in Kazakhstan’s capital Asthana; which is closing to find a way is expected to make bigger contribution to ending the war.
For years, the former Cold War foes USA and Russia have been backing opposing sides in Syria’s war. Moscow has staunchly backed Syrian President Bashar al-Assad supporting Syrian forces since 2015 and Washington backed rebels groups fighting the Assad regime. Involvement of Iran along with the Russians in the war significantly turned the tide against Washington backed rebels. At one point before arrival of the Russians, Assad’s forces were on the brink of defeat but Putin saved Assad as Washington lacked any effective strategy to deal with Russian.
It is not clear whether the latest deal may be or may not be separate one from the previous agreement that Russia, Turkey and Iran had jointly struck earlier this year trying to establish “de-escalation zones” in Syria to reduce bloodshed. Now that both the USA and Russia have decided to act jointly as the ISIS is on the way of defeat in Iraq and Syria, a new commitment on the part of major players in the war may be able to bring peace.
The biggest implication of the cease-fire deal may carry considerable diplomatic achievement for the US under Trump administration with Russian President as the ultimate winner. But it would essentially serve the US purpose – restore peace and stability in Syria with Russia without compromising with ISIS that both USA and Russian fought to end their menace.
