Page 2 - ATD25Febr2016

A2
UP FRONTThursday 25 February 2016
Syria Crisis:
Obama sounds cautious note on cease-fire
KEVIN FREKING
Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) —
President Barack Obama
sounded a cautious note
Wednesday about steps
the U.S. and Russia are tak-
ing to put in place a cease-
fire to help end the Syrian
civil war, even as he also
cited progress in pushing
the Islamic State group out
of territory in Iraq and Syria.
Obama’s comments came
after meeting with Jor-
dan’s King Abdullah II at
President Barack Obama listens as Jordan’s King Abdullah II speaks during their meeting in the
Oval Office of the White House in Washington,Wednesday, Feb. 24, 2016.
the White House, where the
two leaders said that pursu-
ing the political process de-
signed to end the civil war
and taking the fight to IS
are their top priorities in Syr- help Syrian refugees. Jor-
ia. The cease-fire is set to
take effect Saturday, but
does not cover IS.
“We are very cautious
about raising expectations
on this,” Obama said. “The
situation on the ground is
difficult.”
Jordan is a key partner with
the U.S. in the campaign to
defeat IS and the effort to
resolve the 5-year-old war.
Obama described Jordan
as a country that “punches
above its weight when it
comes to the fight against
ISIL,” an alternate name for
Islamic State.
Obama said that if the
cease-fire reduces the vio-
lence that has been wrack-
ing Syria, then it will provide
the basis for a longer-term
cease-fire. He also said that
halting hostilities will allow States,” Obama said.
the U.S. and its partners,
including Russia, to focus
on IS, “something that right
now they are not doing
and are not focused on.”
After the meeting, White
House spokesman Josh Ear-
nest said he expects there
“will be some violations” of
the cease-fire.
“It will be unclear after a
few days, or maybe even
after a few weeks, about
whether or not this under-
standing will stick,” Earnest
said.
Obama also said the lead-
ers talked about how to
dan houses about 635,000
Syrians registered by the
U.N. refugee agency, out
of about 4.7 million Syrians
who have fled their home-
land since the outbreak of
the conflict in 2011. Most of
the refugees live in regional
host countries, though tens
of thousands have moved
on to Europe because liv-
ing conditions were be-
coming increasingly diffi-
cult in those host countries,
in part because of shortfalls
in international aid.
Jordan has appealed for
more aid, along with invest-
ment in the country, to help
it cope with the refugee in-
flux. “As they continue to
be open to helping people
Russia’s Putin pushes Syria
truce deal amid skepticism
in need, they will have a ZEINA KARAM
strong partner in the United Associated Press
BEIRUT (AP) — Russian Pres-
Abdullah said that efforts to ident Vladimir Putin spoke
resolve the conflict in Syr- Wednesday with key
ia are moving in the right players in the Syria con-
direction and described flict, including President
the coordination with the Bashar Assad, ahead of
U.S. as exceptional. a U.S.-Russia-engineered
“I’m actually leaving cease-fire, as the opposi-
Washington very optimistic tion voiced concerns that
about the level of support the truce due to begin
from the United States,” later this week will only
Abdullah said. benefit the Syrian govern-
Jordan and Russia have ment. Government troops
been in touch regarding backed by Russian war-
planes waged fierce bat-
tles to regain control of a
strategic road southeast
of Aleppo from the Islamic
(AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais) State group.
The extremist group seized
military actions in south- the town of Khanaser and
ern Syria, the area closest surrounding hills on Tues-
to the kingdom. day, cutting the main land
Oraib Rentawi, director of route to Aleppo.
the Al-Quds Center for Po- The state-run news agen-
litical Studies in Jordan, a cy said 18 people were
think tank, said the U.S. re- killed in IS shelling of gov- tiations Committee which
mains the kingdom’s main ernment-held neighbor-
strategic partner in the re- hoods in the city over the
gion. past 24 hours.
“Jordan will never go far The truce agreement,
from the American strat- which is set to take effect
egy in the region,” he said. at midnight Friday local
“That does not mean we time, does not cover the
limit ourselves to coordina- Islamic State group, Syr-
tion with the United States. ia’s al-Qaida branch
We need to coordinate known as the Nusra Front,
with other actors.” or any other militia desig-
The two leaders also said nated as a terrorist group
they talked about steps to by the U.N. Security Coun-
reduce tensions between cil.
Israel and Palestinians. It’s not clear exactly where
“We continue to agree along Syria’s complicat-
that it’s important for us to ed front lines the fighting
provide both sides a sense would stop and for how
of possibility and hope, long — or where counter-
and not simply despair,” terrorism operations could
Obama said. q continue.
Also unresolved are how
breaches in the truce
would be dealt with.
It remains shaky at best
and major questions over
enforcement are still unre-
solved.
In a further reflection of
the complicated terrain,
Turkey’s president said
Wednesday that a U.S.-
backed Syrian Kurdish mi-
litia group — which Turkey
regards as a terror orga-
nization — should also be
kept outside of the scope
of the agreement. Turkey
has in the past few weeks
been shelling the group
known as the People’s
Protection Units, or YPG, in
northern Syria.
The comments by Presi-
dent Recep Tayyip Erdo-
gan suggested Turkey
may not stop bombard-
ing the group, which has
been a key fighting force
against IS.
Addressing dozens of local
administrators in Ankara,
Erdogan also voiced seri-
ous concern that the pro-
posed truce will strength-
en Assad and lead to
“new tragedies.”
Although it has committed
in principle to the truce,
the main Syrian opposition
umbrella group is deeply
skeptical and has kept its
meetings in Riyadh, Saudi
Arabia, open while it seeks
clarifications from the U.S.
about the mechanism for
the implementation of the
agreement.
Salem Al Meslet, spokes-
man for the alliance
known as the High Nego-
groups political and rebel
factions, said his group
has “major concerns” that
Russia and Assad’s forces
will continue to strike at
mainstream rebels under
the pretext of hitting “ter-
rorist groups” during the
truce.
However, in a telephone
interview with The Associ-
ated Press, he reiterated
that the opposition wants
to stop the bloodshed and
would abide by the truce
in principle.
“The Americans are taking
note of our concerns and
we are waiting for their re-
plies,” Al Meslet said.
The U.S. is hoping that
a cessation of hostilities
would reduce the vio-
lence in Syria enough to
bring the two sides back
to the negotiating table in
Geneva to discuss a road-
map for a political transi-
tion that was unanimously
adopted by the U.N. Secu-
rity Council in December.
U.S. Secretary of State
John Kerry told American
lawmakers on Tuesday
that he would not vouch
for the success of the
cease-fire agreement but
that it is the best pathway
for ending five years of vio-
lence in Syriathat has killed
more than 250,000 people
and displaced another 11
million.q