SOMETIMES history seems to repeat itself. In February in Munich John Kerry, the American secretary of state, stood next to his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, and the UN envoy, Staffan de Mistura, to announce a countrywide cessation of hostilities in Syria’s miserable five-year civil war. In the six months that followed President Bashar al-Assad’s regime, with Russia’s air support, twice besieged rebels in Aleppo, bombing dozens of hospitals and dropping explosive barrels and chlorine gas with abandon. So when the three men repeated the choreography in Geneva on September 9th—even Mr Kerry’s red-checked tie (pictured) looked the same—observers could have been forgiven their scepticism about the latest great-power accord.
On paper, the agreement is far more detailed than the one in February. For the first time it provides for a co-ordinated American and Russian “joint implementation centre” to “go after Nusra”, in the words of an American official, referring to Jabhat al-Nusra, a jihadist group until recently affiliated with Al-Qaeda; it has rebranded itself Jabhat Fatah al-Sham. Under the accord, the campaign against the group can only start seven days...Continue reading
Source: Middle East and Africa http://ift.tt/2czvuK3
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