U.S., Russia, announce a cease-fire plan in Syria

MUNICH — Secretary of State John Kerry and his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, said they had agreed on the delivery over the next few days of desperately needed aid to besieged Syrian cities, to be followed by a cease-fire that is supposed to clear the way for renewed peace talks.

If executed, the agreement, forged by the International Syria Support Group, would mark the first sustained and formally declared halt to fighting in Syria since the civil war began in 2011, early in the Arab uprisings.

[...] the cease-fire would be partial — it excludes the Islamic State and the Al-Nusra Front, both designated as terrorist organizations by the United Nations — and highly fragile.

Of more concern to U.S. officials, the cease-fire would essentially freeze in place the recent battlefield gains that President Bashar Assad’s forces have made with the help of Russian air strikes.

Kerry and Lavrov said the U.S. and Russia would co-chair both the working group on humanitarian aid as well as a task force that will try to deal with the “modalities” of the temporary truce.