World powers have agreed to implement a "nationwide cessation of hostilities" in Syria in one week's time, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said early Friday, after a meeting of the International Syria Support Group in Munich.
Kerry, speaking after marathon talks that included Russia and more than a dozen other countries, said that all nations involved in the talks agreed that Syrian peace negotiations should resume in Geneva as soon as possible.
Kerry, flanked by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and UN envoy Staffan de Mistura, acknowledged that the Munich meeting produced commitments on paper only. He and Lavrov agreed that the "real test" will be whether all parties to the Syrian conflict honor those commitments.
"We will only be able to see whether this was a breakthrough in a few days," Germany's Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier told reporters.
British Foreign Secretary Hammond said that if the ceasefire is to work, Russia's airstrikes in the country in the aid of President Bashar Assad will have to stop. "No cessation of hostilities will last if opposition continues to be targeted," he said.
The plan is aimed at breaking the deadlock in Syria by introducing a gradual cessation of hostilities and quick humanitarian aid with a view to creating conditions to revive peace talks, a diplomatic source said.
"We did not get a deal on the immediate end of Russian bombings, but we have a commitment to a process that if it works would change the situation," a Western diplomatic source said.
A spokesman for the Syrian opposition welcomed the truce, but said the opposition must see action on the ground.
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