HAMBURG, Germany (AP) — The United States and Russia have reached agreement on a cease-fire in southwest Syria, three U.S. officials said Friday as President Donald Trump held his first meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The deal marks a new level of involvement for the U.S. in trying to resolve Syria’s civil war. Although details about the agreement and how it will be implemented weren’t immediately available, the cease-fire is set to take effect Sunday at noon Damascus time, said the officials, who weren’t authorized to discuss the cease-fire publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Jordan and Israel also are part of the agreement, one of the officials said. The two U.S. allies both share a border with the southern part of Syria and have been concerned about violence from Syria’s civil war spilling over the border.

The deal is separate from “de-escalation zones” that were to be created under a deal brokered by Russia, Turkey and Iran earlier this year. The U.S. was not a part of that deal. Follow-up talks this week in Astana, Kazakhstan, to finalize a cease-fire in those zones failed to reach agreement.

Previous cease-fires in Syria have collapsed or failed to reduce violence for long, and it was unclear whether this deal would be any better.

Earlier in the week, Syria’s military had said it was halting combat operations in the south of Syria for four days, in advance of a new round of Russia-sponsored talks in Astana. That move covered southern provinces of Daraa, Quneitra and Sweida. Syria’s government briefly extended that unilateral cease-fire, which is now set to expire Saturday — a day before the U.S. and Russian deal would take effect.

The new agreement to be announced Friday will be open-ended, one U.S. official said, describing it as part of broader U.S. discussions with Russia on trying to lower violence in the war-ravaged country. Officials said the U.S. and Russia were still working out the details as Trump and Putin concluded their more than two-hour meeting on Friday.

The U.S. and Russia have been backing opposing sides in Syria’s war, with Moscow supporting Syrian President Bashar Assad and Washington supporting rebels who have been fighting Assad. Both the U.S. and Russia oppose the Islamic State group in Syria.

The U.S. has been wary of letting Iran gain influence in Syria — a concern shared by Israel and Jordan, neither of which wants Iranian-aligned troops amassing near their territories. A U.S.-brokered deal could help the Trump administration retain more of a say over who fills the power vacuum left behind as the Islamic State is routed from additional territory in Syria.

Though U.S. and Russian officials had been discussing a potential deal for some time, it didn’t reach fruition until the run-up to Trump’s meeting with Putin on the sidelines of the Group of 20 economic summit in Germany, officials said.

Before Trump’s meeting with Putin — his first with the Russian leader — Secretary of State Rex Tillerson signaled that Syria’s civil war would be high on the agenda. Tillerson said in a statement before departing for Germany for the meeting that the U.S. remained open to cooperating with Russia through “joint mechanisms” to lower violence in Syria, potentially including no-fly zones.

“If our two countries work together to establish stability on the ground, it will lay a foundation for progress on the settlement of Syria’s political future,” Tillerson said on Wednesday.

Moscow reacted angrily when the U.S. downed a Syrian jet last week after it dropped bombs near the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces conducting operations against the Islamic State group. Russia warned its military would track aircraft from the U.S.-led coalition as potential targets over Syria and suspended a hotline intended to avoid midair incidents.</s>HAMBURG, Germany (AP) — The United States and Russia have reached agreement on a cease-fire in southwest Syria, three U.S. officials said Friday as President Donald Trump held his first meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The deal marks a new level of involvement for the U.S. in trying to resolve Syria’s civil war. Although details about the agreement and how it will be implemented weren’t immediately available, the cease-fire is set to take effect Sunday at noon Damascus time, said the officials, who weren’t authorized to discuss the cease-fire publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Jordan and Israel also are part of the agreement, one of the officials said. The two U.S. allies both share a border with the southern part of Syria and have been concerned about violence from Syria’s civil war spilling over the border.

The deal is separate from “de-escalation zones” that were to be created under a deal brokered by Russia, Turkey and Iran earlier this year. The U.S. was not a part of that deal. Follow-up talks this week in Astana, Kazakhstan, to finalize a cease-fire in those zones failed to reach agreement.

Previous cease-fires in Syria have collapsed or failed to reduce violence for long, and it was unclear whether this deal would be any better.

Earlier in the week, Syria’s military had said it was halting combat operations in the south of Syria for four days, in advance of a new round of Russia-sponsored talks in Astana. That move covered southern provinces of Daraa, Quneitra and Sweida. Syria’s government briefly extended that unilateral cease-fire, which is now set to expire Saturday — a day before the U.S. and Russian deal would take effect.

The new agreement to be announced Friday will be open-ended, one U.S. official said, describing it as part of broader U.S. discussions with Russia on trying to lower violence in the war-ravaged country. Officials said the U.S. and Russia were still working out the details as Trump and Putin concluded their more than two-hour meeting on Friday.

The U.S. and Russia have been backing opposing sides in Syria’s war, with Moscow supporting Syrian President Bashar Assad and Washington supporting rebels who have been fighting Assad. Both the U.S. and Russia oppose the Islamic State group in Syria.

The U.S. has been wary of letting Iran gain influence in Syria — a concern shared by Israel and Jordan, neither of which wants Iranian-aligned troops amassing near their territories. A U.S.-brokered deal could help the Trump administration retain more of a say over who fills the power vacuum left behind as the Islamic State is routed from additional territory in Syria.

Though U.S. and Russian officials had been discussing a potential deal for some time, it didn’t reach fruition until the run-up to Trump’s meeting with Putin on the sidelines of the Group of 20 economic summit in Germany, officials said.

Before Trump’s meeting with Putin — his first with the Russian leader — Secretary of State Rex Tillerson signaled that Syria’s civil war would be high on the agenda. Tillerson said in a statement before departing for Germany for the meeting that the U.S. remained open to cooperating with Russia through “joint mechanisms” to lower violence in Syria, potentially including no-fly zones.

“If our two countries work together to establish stability on the ground, it will lay a foundation for progress on the settlement of Syria’s political future,” Tillerson said on Wednesday.

Moscow reacted angrily when the U.S. downed a Syrian jet last week after it dropped bombs near the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces conducting operations against the Islamic State group. Russia warned its military would track aircraft from the U.S.-led coalition as potential targets over Syria and suspended a hotline intended to avoid midair incidents.

On Twitter, reach Vivian Salama at https://twitter.com/vmsalama , Josh Lederman at https://twitter.com/joshledermanAP and Ken Thomas at https://twitter.com/KThomasDC</s>HAMBURG, Germany (AP) — The United States and Russia struck an agreement Friday on a cease-fire in southwest Syria, crowning President Donald Trump’s first meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. It is the first U.S.-Russian effort under Trump’s presidency to stem Syria’s six-year civil war.

The cease-fire goes into effect Sunday at noon Damascus time, according to U.S. officials and the Jordanian government, which is also involved in the deal.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who accompanied Trump in his meeting with Putin, said the understanding is designed to reduce violence in an area of Syria near Jordan’s border and which is critical to the U.S. ally’s security.

It’s a “very complicated part of the Syrian battlefield,” Tillerson told reporters after the U.S. and Russian leaders met for about 2 hours and 15 minutes on the sidelines of a global summit in Hamburg, Germany.

Of the agreement, he said: “I think this is our first indication of the U.S. and Russia being able to work together in Syria.”

For years, the former Cold War foes have been backing opposing sides in Syria’s war. Moscow has staunchly backed Syrian President Bashar Assad, supporting Syrian forces militarily since 2015. Washington has backed rebels fighting Assad. Both the U.S. and Russia oppose Islamic State militants and say they’re focused on rooting out the extremist group.

Russia’s top diplomat, who accompanied Putin in the meeting with Trump, said Russian military police will monitor the new truce. All sides will try to ensure aid deliveries to the area, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said.

The deal marks a new level of involvement for the Trump administration in trying to resolve Syria’s civil war.

Trump ordered some 60 cruise missiles to be fired at a Syrian air base in April after accusing Assad’s forces of a deadly chemical weapons attack. But his top military and national security advisers pointedly said they had no intentions of intervening to oust Assad. And they stopped short of endorsing Russian-led or U.N. peace mediation efforts between Assad’s government and rebel groups.

Israel also is part of the agreement, one U.S. official said, who like others wasn’t authorized to speak publicly on the matter ahead of Tillerson’s official announcement and demanded anonymity. Like Jordan, Israel shares a border with the southern part of Syria and has been concerned about a spillover of violence as well as an amassing of Iranian-aligned forces in the south of the country.

Jordanian government spokesman Mohammed Momani confirmed an accord involving his country, the U.S. and Russia. He made no reference to Israel’s participation. Syrian government forces and its allies will stay on one side of an agreed demarcation line, and rebel fighters will stick to the other side. The goal is also to enable aid to reach this area of Syria, Momani told state media.

The deal is separate from an agreement that Russia, Turkey and Iran struck earlier this year to try to establish “de-escalation zones” in Syria with reduced bloodshed. The U.S., wary of Iran’s involvement, stayed away from that effort. Follow-up talks this week in Kazakhstan were unable to produce agreement on finalizing a cease-fire in those zones.

Previous cease-fires in Syria have collapsed or failed to reduce violence for long, and it was unclear whether this deal would be any better.

Tillerson said the difference this time is Russia’s interest in seeing Syria return to stability. It’s an argument top U.S. officials such as former Secretary of State John Kerry cited regularly amid his failed efforts to end a conflict that has killed as many as a half-million people, contributed to Europe’s worst refugee crisis since World War II and allowed IS to emerge as a global terror threat.

Tillerson also repeated the U.S. position that a “long-term role for the Assad family and the Assad regime” is untenable and voiced his belief that Russia might be willing to address the future leadership of Syria, in tones reminiscent of Kerry. Up to now, Assad has rejected any proposals that would see him leave power, contributing to an impasse that has prolonged Syria’s suffering.

Earlier in the week, Syria’s military had said it was halting combat operations in the south of Syria for four days, in advance of the new round of Russian-sponsored talks in Kazakhstan. That move covered the southern provinces of Daraa, Quneitra and Sweida. Syria’s government briefly extended that unilateral cease-fire, which is now set to expire Saturday — a day before the U.S. and Russian deal was to take effect.

The U.S.-Russian cease-fire has no set end date, one U.S. official said, describing it as part of broader discussions with Moscow on lowering violence in Syria.

The agreement may also reflect Iran’s increasingly prominent role in Syria.

Washington has been resistant to letting Iranian forces and their proxy militias gain strength in Syria’s south, a position shared by Israel and Jordan. Friday’s deal could help the Trump administration retain more of a say over who fills the power vacuum left behind as the Islamic State is routed from additional territory in Syria.

In recent weeks, U.S. forces have shot down a Syrian aircraft that got too close to American forces as well as Iranian-made drones. A renewed government offensive against Western-backed rebels and Islamic militants in the contested province of Daraa also is sparking tensions, and Iranian-backed Hezbollah fighters have shifted south to join the fight.

Israel has also struck Syrian military installations on several occasions in the past few weeks after shells landed into the Israeli-controlled side of the Golan Heights Golan Heights. Ahead of the deal, media reports in Israel have suggested unease at any arrangement that relies on Russia policing areas near its frontier.

Implications for Syria aside, the deal marks the biggest diplomatic achievement for the U.S. and Russia since Trump took office. Trump’s administration has approached the notoriously strained relationship by trying to identify a few limited issues on which the countries could make progress, thereby building trust for a broader repair of ties.

Salama and Lederman reported from Washington. Associated Press writer Zeina Karam in Beirut, Lebanon, contributed to this report.

On Twitter, reach Vivian Salama at https://twitter.com/vmsalama , Josh Lederman at https://twitter.com/joshledermanAP and Ken Thomas at https://twitter.com/KThomasDC</s>Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Saturday that a new ceasefire deal in southern Syria was the result of the United States altering its stance and becoming more pragmatic about the situation there.

HAMBURG: Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Saturday that a new ceasefire deal in southern Syria was the result of the United States altering its stance and becoming more pragmatic about the situation there.

Putin, speaking at a news conference at the G20 summit in Hamburg, was referring to a ceasefire and "de-escalation agreement" for southwestern Syria reached by the United States, Russia and Jordan on Friday.</s>The United States and Russia have reached agreement on a ceasefire in southwest Syria, three US officials said as President Donald Trump held his first meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. 

 

 The deal marks a new level of involvement for the US in trying to resolve Syria's civil war. Although details about the agreement and how it will be implemented weren't immediately available, the cease-fire is set to take effect Sunday at noon Damascus time, said the officials, who weren't authorised to discuss the cease-fire publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity. 

 

 Jordan and Israel also are part of the agreement, one of the officials said. The two US allies both share a border with the southern part of Syria and have been concerned about violence from Syria's civil war spilling over the border.

The deal is separate from “de-escalation zones” that were to be created under a deal brokered by Russia, Turkey and Iran earlier this year. The US was not a part of that deal. Follow-up talks this week in Kazakhstan to finalise a cease-fire in those zones failed to reach agreement.The US and Russia have been backing opposing sides in Syria's war, with Moscow supporting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Washington supporting rebels who have been fighting Assad. Both the US and Russia oppose Isis group in Syria.The US has been wary of letting Iran gain influence in Syria — a concern shared by Israel and Jordan, neither of which wants Iranian-aligned troops amassing near their territories. A US-brokered deal could help the Trump administration retain more of a say over who fills the vacuum left behind as Isis is removed from additional territory in Syria.Though US and Russian officials had been discussing a potential deal for some time, it didn't reach fruition until the run-up to Mr Trump's meeting with Putin on the sidelines of the G20 economic summit in Germany, officials said.Before Mr Trump's meeting with Mr Putin — his first with the Russian leader — Secretary of State Rex Tillerson signalled that Syria's civil war would be high on the agenda. Mr Tillerson said in a statement before departing for Germany for the meeting that the U.S. remained open to cooperating with Russia through “joint mechanisms” to lower violence in Syria, potentially including no-fly zones.“If our two countries work together to establish stability on the ground, it will lay a foundation for progress on the settlement of Syria's political future,” Mr Tillerson said on Wednesday.Moscow reacted angrily when the US downed a Syrian jet last week after it dropped bombs near the U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces conducting operations against the Islamic State group. Russia warned its military would track aircraft from the US-led coalition as potential targets over Syria and suspended a hotline intended to avoid mid-air incidents.</s>Vladimir Putin and Sergey Lavrov, the President and Foreign Minister of Russia have concluded a meeting with their American counterparts Donald Trump and Rex Tillerson.

The meeting lasted for 2 hours and 20 minutes, although it was initially scheduled to last for only 35 minutes.

Simultaneous to the meeting concluding, it emerged from a US official that Russia and the US have agreed to be signatories and ostensibly guarantors of a ceasefire agreement for southwest Syria.

In recent weeks, southwest Syria has seen ferocious fighting between al-Qaeda remnants and the Syrian Arab Army while Israel has conducted multiple acts of illegal military aggression against Syria from its positions in part of the Golan Heights, a part of Syria which Israel has partly occupied since 1967.

Last week, Syria proclaimed a ceasefire in the region. Many expected this week’s meeting of the Astana Group to affirm the ceasefire. As it turned out, the recent round of Astana talks between Russia, Iran and Turkey concluded without any new documents being signed.

It appears that now the US and Russia will act to guarantee the ceasefire.

President Putin and President Trump did not meet with the press after the meeting, however Putin spoke briefly before his next meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Putin issued a public apology to Abe for being late due to the unexpected length of his meeting with Donald Trump.</s>HAMBURG, Germany (AP) - The United States and Russia have reached agreement on a cease-fire in southwest Syria, three U.S. officials said Friday as President Donald Trump held his first meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The deal marks a new level of involvement for the U.S. in trying to resolve Syria's civil war. Although details about the agreement and how it will be implemented weren't immediately available, the cease-fire is set to take effect Sunday at noon Damascus time, said the officials, who weren't authorized to discuss the cease-fire publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Jordan and Israel also are part of the agreement, one of the officials said. The two U.S. allies both share a border with the southern part of Syria and have been concerned about violence from Syria's civil war spilling over the border.

The deal is separate from "de-escalation zones" that were to be created under a deal brokered by Russia, Turkey and Iran earlier this year. The U.S. was not a part of that deal. Follow-up talks this week in Kazakhstan to finalize a cease-fire in those zones failed to reach agreement.

The U.S. and Russia have been backing opposing sides in Syria's war, with Moscow supporting Syrian President Bashar Assad and Washington supporting rebels who have been fighting Assad. Both the U.S. and Russia oppose the Islamic State group in Syria.

Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.</s>(HAMBURG, Germany) — U.S. officials say the United States and Russia have reached an agreement for a cease-fire in southwest Syria.

The cease-fire is set to take effect July 9 at noon Damascus time. Word of the cease-fire has emerged as President Donald Trump is meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The officials weren't authorized to discuss the cease-fire publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

The deal marks a new level of involvement for the U.S. in trying to resolve Syria's civil war.

A separate deal to create "de-escalation zones" was brokered Russia, Turkey and Iran, but not the U.S. Follow-up talks this week in Kazakhstan to finalize a cease-fire in those zones failed to reach a deal.

The U.S. and Russia have been backing opposing sides in Syria's war.</s>HAMBURG, Germany (AP) — The United States and Russia struck an agreement Friday on a cease-fire in southwest Syria, crowning President Donald Trump’s first meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. It is the first U.S.-Russian effort under Trump’s presidency to stem Syria’s six-year civil war.

The cease-fire goes into effect Sunday at noon Damascus time, according to U.S. officials and the Jordanian government, which is also involved in the deal.

U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, who accompanied Trump in his meeting with Putin, said the understanding is designed to reduce violence in an area of Syria near Jordan’s border that is critical to the U.S. ally’s security.

It’s a “very complicated part of the Syrian battlefield,” Tillerson told reporters after the U.S. and Russian leaders met for more than two hours on the sidelines of a global summit in Hamburg, Germany.

Of the agreement, he said, “I think this is our first indication of the U.S. and Russia being able to work together in Syria.”

For years, the former Cold War foes have been backing opposing sides in Syria’s war. Moscow has staunchly backed Syrian President Bashar Assad, supporting Syrian forces militarily since 2015. Washington has backed rebels fighting Assad. Both the U.S. and Russia oppose Islamic State militants and say they’re focused on rooting out the extremist group.

The potential pitfalls for the cease-fire are clear — not least the challenge of enforcing it.

Russia Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Russian military police would monitor the new truce. But Tillerson said that was still being worked out. A senior U.S. State Department official said the two countries were close to a deal on that issue and hoped to finalize it in the coming days, raising the prospect it could take effect Sunday with no clear sense of who is policing it.

That the deal was announced before all the details were ironed out was a clear indication of how eager the U.S. and Russia were to cast their leaders’ first meeting as a success. Officials said the deal had been in the works for weeks or months, but came together in time for the meeting.

The deal marks a new level of involvement for the Trump administration in trying to resolve Syria’s civil war.

Trump ordered some 60 cruise missiles to be fired at a Syrian air base in April after accusing Assad’s forces of a deadly chemical weapons attack. But his top military and national security advisers pointedly said they had no intentions of intervening to oust Assad. And they stopped short of endorsing Russian-led or U.N. peace mediation efforts between Assad’s government and rebel groups.

Israel also is part of the agreement, one U.S. official said, who like others wasn’t authorized to speak publicly on the matter and demanded anonymity. Like Jordan, Israel shares a border with the southern part of Syria and has been concerned about a spillover of violence as well as an amassing of Iranian-aligned forces in the south of the country.

Jordanian government spokesman Mohammed Momani confirmed the accord in a statement that made no reference to Israel’s participation. Syrian government forces and its allies will stay on one side of an agreed demarcation line, and rebel fighters will stick to the other side. The goal is also to enable aid to reach this area of Syria, Momani told state media. U.S. officials said the U.S., Russia and Jordan had only agreed on that demarcation line last week, clearing the way for a cease-fire to be worked out.

The deal is separate from an agreement that Russia, Turkey and Iran struck earlier this year to try to establish “de-escalation zones” in Syria with reduced bloodshed. The U.S., wary of Iran’s involvement, stayed away from that effort. Follow-up talks this week in Kazakhstan were unable to produce agreement on finalizing a cease-fire in those zones.

Previous cease-fires in Syria have collapsed or failed to reduce violence for long, and it was unclear whether this deal would be any better.

Tillerson said the difference this time is Russia’s interest in seeing Syria return to stability. It’s an argument top U.S. officials such as former Secretary of State John Kerry cited regularly amid his failed efforts to end a conflict that has killed as many as a half-million people, contributed to Europe’s worst refugee crisis since World War II and allowed IS to emerge as a global terror threat.

Tillerson also repeated the U.S. position that a “long-term role for the Assad family and the Assad regime” is untenable and voiced his belief that Russia might be willing to address the future leadership of Syria, in tones reminiscent of Kerry. Up to now, Assad has rejected any proposals that would see him leave power, contributing to an impasse that has prolonged Syria’s suffering.

Earlier in the week, Syria’s military said it was halting combat operations in the south of Syria for four days, in advance of the new round of Russian-sponsored talks in Kazakhstan. That move covered the southern provinces of Daraa, Quneitra and Sweida. Syria’s government briefly extended that unilateral cease-fire, which is now set to expire Saturday — a day before the U.S. and Russian deal was to take effect.

The U.S.-Russian cease-fire has no set end date, one U.S. official said, describing it as part of broader discussions with Moscow on lowering violence in Syria.

The agreement may also reflect Iran’s increasingly prominent role in Syria.

Washington has been resistant to letting Iranian forces and their proxy militias gain strength in Syria’s south, a position shared by Israel and Jordan. Friday’s deal could help the Trump administration retain more of a say over who fills the power vacuum left behind as the Islamic State is routed from additional territory in Syria.

In recent weeks, U.S. forces have shot down a Syrian aircraft that got too close to American forces, as well as Iranian-made drones. A renewed government offensive against Western-backed rebels and Islamic militants in the contested province of Daraa also is sparking tensions, and Iranian-backed Hezbollah fighters have shifted south to join the fight.

Israel has also struck Syrian military installations on several occasions in the past few weeks after shells landed in the Israeli-controlled side of the Golan Heights. Ahead of the deal, media reports in Israel have suggested unease at any arrangement that relies on Russia policing areas near its frontier.

Implications for Syria aside, the deal marks the biggest diplomatic achievement for the U.S. and Russia since Trump took office. Trump’s administration has approached the notoriously strained relationship by trying to identify a few limited issues on which the countries could make progress, thereby building trust for a broader repair of ties.

Lederman and Salama reported from Washington. Associated Press writer Zeina Karam in Beirut, Lebanon, contributed to this report.

On Twitter, reach Josh Lederman at https://twitter.com/joshledermanAP , Vivian Salama at https://twitter.com/vmsalama and Ken Thomas at https://twitter.com/KThomasDC</s>On Friday, as President Donald Trump met with Russian President Vladimir Putin, the U.S. State Department confirmed the two sides had reached a ceasefire agreement in Syria. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson called it, “the first indication of the U.S. and Russia being able to work together in Syria.”

“We spent a very, very lengthy period on Syria. With a great amount of detail on the agreement, we concluded today but also where we go,” Tillerson said of the meeting between Trump and Putin.

CBS News and the Associated Press report that Jordan and Israel, which border on southern Syria, are also part of the plan. Jordanian Minister of Media Affairs Mohammed Momani announced on Friday that the ceasefire would go into effect at noon local time on Sunday, July 9.

It remains to be seen whether the Syrian military, rebel forces, and assorted terrorist gangs will honor the agreement. The track record of previous ceasefires has not been encouraging. One hopeful sign noted by CBS/AP is that the Syrian government has already announced a four-day unilateral suspension of combat operations, which will end just before the U.S.-Russia deal goes into effect.

The new ceasefire announcement is considered separate from the “de-escalation” plans Russia has brokered with Iran and Turkey through peace talks in Kazakhstan, which pointedly excluded the United States. The latest round of talks in Kazakhstan this week fell short of producing a final ceasefire plan because a few of the parties actually shooting at each other in Syria seemed willing to sign on. A Russian-Turkish initiative to deploy troops from Kazakhstan or Kyrgyzstan to monitor Syrian de-escalation zones also appears to have fizzled.

It marks a positive shift in relations between America and Russia after such incidents as the U.S. cruise missile strike on a Syrian airbase to retaliate for a chemical weapons attack by the Syrian regime and Russia threatening to target warplanes from the U.S.-led coalition if they entered certain regions of Syria’s airspace.

This week, Secretary Tillerson said President Trump was interested in discussing no-fly zones and the delivery of humanitarian aid with Putin, along with a monitored ceasefire. Tillerson also cautioned the Syrian regime and its allies from rushing in to occupy areas where the U.S. and its coalition partners have routed ISIS.

Notably, Tillerson dropped dictator Bashar Assad squarely in Russia’s lap, describing Russia as “guarantor of the Assad regime” and saying it “has a responsibility to ensure that the needs of the Syrian people are met.”

He returned to that point after Trump’s meeting with Putin on Friday, claiming rather optimistically that American and Russia have similar objectives in Syria other than the fate of Assad’s regime. He insisted that the United States continues to “see no long-term role for Assad” in Syria, and insisting the endgame for that tormented country will involve a “transition from the Assad family.”
The United States, Russia and regional countries reach a ceasefire deal in southwestern Syria.