Syrian Truce Agreed by Russia, Turkey Leaves Obama, Kerry ‘Completely Sidelined’

by , Sputnik News:

As the nationwide ceasefire brokered by Moscow and Ankara has been generally holding in Syria for ten days now, it is largely considered as the best news from the war-torn country in years, giving every chance for the conflict to be finally resolved.

After Moscow-Ankara-Tehran negotiations on Syria, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced on December 29 that the Syrian government and armed opposition groups had reached an agreement on a nationwide ceasefire in the country and on readiness to start peace talks.

A nationwide ceasefire in Syria was brokered by Russia and Turkey and later approved by the United Nations. The ceasefire deal in Syria has been in effect since December 30. The truce is expected to be followed by peace talks in the Kazakh capital of Astana later this month.

On Saturday, Russian officials within the joint Russian-Turkish ceasefire commission registered 10 violations in Syria over 24 hours. The Russian Defense Ministry said that the overall number of violations is decreasing, which strengthens trust between the parties to the ceasefire pact.

Interestingly, this has been the first truce in Syria, in which the guarantors are Russia and Turkey, without the involvement of the United States.

Despite voting in favor of the UN Security Council’s approval of the Russia-backed plan on the Syrian peace settlement, Washington seems to be “sidelined and left out of this [Syrian peace] process,” British politician, writer and former MP George Galloway told RT.

“Now the Troika of Iran, Turkey, and Russia working with the [Syrian President Bashar Assad] regime in Damascus is solving this matter for themselves, and that is what is deeply humiliating for the US. If anyone looks more pitiful today than President Obama, it is Secretary [John] Kerry, who has been completely sidelined and left out of this process, because his government only wanted to throw a spoke in the wheel of progress, rather than facilitate progress. So it is no surprise that the parties who really want a settlement have decided to do it without the US on this occasion,” Galloway noted.

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