According to US government representatives, combat flights will stop to be carried out by the Syrian Air Force in accordance with terms of the US-Russian agreement on a ceasefire in Syria.
Photo: Sputnik / Mikhail Voskresenskiy
Next Monday, the Syrian Air Force will stop to carry out combat flights in accordance with terms of the US-Russian agreement on a ceasefire in Syria, a senior US official said during a special briefing for press held on the phone on Tuesday.
According to the TASS news agency, another senior US official, who also participated in the briefing, organized by the Department of State, said that the only one legitimate goal in the Syrian conflict for any participant, whether it’s air forces of Syria, Russia or US-led coalition, is a fight against the Islamic State (IS) and the Jabhat Fateh al-Sham (previously known as the al-Nusra Front or the Jabhat al-Nusra) terrorist groups.
As the US government representative noted, “after seven continuous days of violence reduction, if we reach this,” Moscow and Washington will create a joint executive center and then will start “carrying out joint strikes” against extremists in Syria.
“At this time, the air force of the Syrian regime will not be able to fly over any parts of Syria, where there is presence of an opposition or the Jabhat al-Nusra,” he said.
At the same time, the official noted that “in the current period, the air force of the regime is still technically allowed to strike on Jabhat al-Nusra in Syria. After the joint executive center will be created, new restrictions will come into force. Then the air force of the regime will not be able to strike on Jabhat al-Nusra.”
He also added that Russia and the US are not required to enter into any further agreements and conduct “detailed technical talks” in order to start joint strikes against terrorists in Syria. The expert noted that almost all work, required for this, has already been done.
Meanwhile, his colleague said that over the past day, a significant reduction of violence took place in Syria in connection with the Russian-American agreements, which have entered into force. The US official explained that he has a verified data, an accuracy of which has already been confirmed by Washington through its own channels, including the opposition forces and Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura.
“We can confidently say one thing, which is backed up by the words of Staffan de Mistura, sources in the opposition, and civilians in Syria – there is a significant drop in the level of violence. Certainly, not up to scratch… And we would like to see an even more significant drop in the coming days,” the US government representative said.
However, he added that he does not want to speculate on what would be the development trend of the situation in Syria.
It is not fair to bully a country in need of help and order them to stand down while being attacked. Shame on Russia to accept this condition, muricans are just protecting their own terrorists.
i hope with this backstab by russia, syria will request more help from iran.
Hard to believe that Syria and Russia agreed to a stand down of the Syrian Air Force. Air superiority over A Nusra, and ISIS is a balance against their large numbers. Hopefully the Syrians have a fleet of drones to offset this , but that is likely, just wishful thinking. Who knows , maybe the peace talks will yield some fruit.
What shall we call it? A No Fly Zone? And all that through Russian American partnership. Does Russian government recognizes Syria as a sovereign state any more?
Great……
Load of horseshit….