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United States, Russia, and Jordan Sign Limited Ceasefire for Syria

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 February 2018

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As the civil war in Syria continues, some of the key actors have sought ways to reduce the conflict's toll on civilians. In May, 2007, Russia and the United States began exploring the possibility of establishing “safe” or “de-escalation” zones. On July 7, this dialogue yielded a trilateral agreement and memorandum signed by Russia, the United States, and Jordan to establish a ceasefire in southwest Syria. The resulting ceasefire—the first in Syria signed by the Trump administration—governs hostilities between Syrian government forces and associated troops on one side and rebels on the other. It began on July 9.

Type
Use of Force, Arms Control, and Nonproliferation
Information
American Journal of International Law , Volume 111 , Issue 4 , October 2017 , pp. 1053 - 1056
Copyright
Copyright © 2018 by The American Society of International Law 

As the civil war in Syria continues, some of the key actors have sought ways to reduce the conflict's toll on civilians.Footnote 1 In May, 2007, Russia and the United States began exploring the possibility of establishing “safe” or “de-escalation” zones.Footnote 2 On July 7, this dialogue yielded a trilateral agreement and memorandum signed by Russia, the United States, and Jordan to establish a ceasefire in southwest Syria.Footnote 3 The resulting ceasefire—the first in Syria signed by the Trump administration—governs hostilities between Syrian government forces and associated troops on one side and rebels on the other. It began on July 9.Footnote 4

The text of the agreement is confidential,Footnote 5 but Trump administration officials have described its key parameters. According to Brett McGurk, Special Presidential Envoy for the Global Coalition to Counter ISIS, the agreement is “essentially an undertaking to use our influence, the Jordanians, their influence, the Russians to use their influence with all of the sides of the conflict to stop the fighting, to essentially freeze the conflict.”Footnote 6 One significant feature of the ceasefire is that it divides the territory covered by the agreement into two areas, with United States-associated forces on one side and Syrian and Russian-associated forces on the other. According to McGurk:

… if you take the southwest, what we did there—and I think quite successfully—is a very painstaking negotiation with Jordan and with Russia and with us trilaterally to map out a very detailed—we call it a line of contact—between opposition and regime forces. And everybody agreed on that line of contact, and that is the ceasefire line.

This is the first time we have had a ceasefire with a very detailed negotiated line. It's a very different endeavor than just declaring a ceasefire in a particular area. So we have a very detailed, painstakingly negotiated ceasefire line.Footnote 7

McGurk described the agreement as “phase one” of de-escalating the Syrian civil war.Footnote 8 A Senior State Department Official elaborated on the description of the agreement as an “interim step”:

The idea is it should create a better environment to discuss a broader and more comprehensive southwest de-escalation area in greater detail. We felt that a ceasefire—near-term ceasefire—was important because the violence in the southwest, although historically, over the course of the conflict, it has been … less than other parts of Syria, the violence has steadily increased in the south since February, with both the Syrian regime and opposition defenses threatening to derail any potential for progress there … .

Now, the agreement … previews additional steps that we think we're going to have to take to strengthen and solidify that ceasefire, and those steps would include potential deployment of monitoring forces to the area, and as Secretary Tillerson noted, that's something that we're close to an understanding on but we're not in a position to announce in detail on that yet; and also formation of an effective monitoring cell, an arrangement by which the parties could participate and monitor the details of the ceasefire and violations.Footnote 9

The agreement did not address monitoring and compliance.Footnote 10 Shortly after the agreement was announced, Russia indicated its willingness to deploy monitors.Footnote 11 On August 23, the Jordanian Embassy announced that, as envisioned by the ceasefire agreement, the Amman Center for Ceasefire Control, with participation by representatives from Jordan, Russia, and the United States, started its official work to “monitor, stabilise, and deepen” the ceasefire.Footnote 12

Early reports indicate that the ceasefire has held. On July 14, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Maria Zakharova said that the situation on the ground was “steady” and noted that the ceasefire might “be an example for other areas in Idlib province.”Footnote 13 A month into the ceasefire, Department of State spokesperson Heather Nauert offered the following assessment of its progress:

[T]hat ceasefire, to my understanding, is still holding. Okay? We are pleased with that. That provides the United States and the coalition partners with the opportunity to start to get some humanitarian in—that is so badly needed in that area. And so … we've been able to start reaching some of the vulnerable Syrians without the complications of avoiding airstrikes or increases in violence. We're continuing to work with our international partners to assess the ongoing emergency humanitarian needs throughout Syria and facilitate the delivery of vitally needed supplies.

I'm also told that people are starting to slowly come back into parts of those areas, which … we would consider to be a moderate success at this point, and we look forward to that happening eventually.Footnote 14

On September 11, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov likewise described the ceasefire “successful.”Footnote 15

References

1 Daugirdas, Kristina & Mortenson, Julian Davis, Contemporary Practice of the United States, 112 AJIL 781 (2017)Google Scholar.

2 See White House Press Release, Readout of President Donald J. Trump's Call with President Vladimir Putin of the Russian Federation (May 2, 2017), at https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2017/05/02/readout-president-donald-j-trumps-call-president-vladimir-putin-russian (describing telephone discussion between Trump and Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin regarding “safe, or de-escalation,” zones); see also Suleiman Al-Khalidi, U.S., Russia Discuss De-escalation Zone for Southwest Syria: Diplomats, Reuters (June 9, 2017), at http://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-syria-deraa-idUSKBN1902HR (describing a series of meetings between the Russian and U.S. special envoys for Syria regarding the possible addition of new de-escalation zones).

3 White House Press Release, Press Briefing on the President's Meetings at the G20 (July 7, 2017), at https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2017/07/07/press-briefing-presidents-meetings-g20-july-7-2017; Zachary Cohen & Kevin Liptak, Tillerson: Trump, Putin Reach Syria Ceasefire Agreement, CNN (July 8, 2017), at http://www.cnn.com/2017/07/07/politics/syria-ceasefire-us-russia-tillerson/index.html.

4 A Tripartite Agreement to Back the Ceasefire in South-West of Syria, Petra (July 7, 2017), at http://petra.gov.jo/Public_News/Nws_NewsDetails.aspx?lang=2&site_id=1&NewsID=308533&CatID=13.

5 See Colum Lynch, Robbie Gramer, Dan De Luce & Paul McCleary, Secret Details of Trump-Putin Syria Cease-fire Focus on Iranian Proxies, Foreign Policy (July 11, 2017), at http://foreignpolicy.com/2017/07/11/exclusive-trump-putin-ceasefire-agreement-focuses-on-iranian-backed-fighters-middle-east.

6 U.S. Dep't of State Press Release, Background Briefing on the Ceasefire in Syria (July 7, 2017), at https://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2017/07/272433.htm [hereinafter Background Briefing].

7 U.S. Dep't of State Press Release, Brett McGurk, Briefing on the Global Coalition to Counter ISIS (July 13, 2017), at https://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2017/07/272601.htm [hereinafter McGurk briefing]. See also Laura Rozen, US Touts Success of Syria Cease-fire Negotiated with Russia, Al-Monitor (Aug. 9, 2017), at http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2017/08/us-russia-ceasefire-syria-trump-cooperation-sanctions.html.

8 McGurk Briefing, supra note 7.

9 Background Briefing, supra note 6.

10 McGurk Briefing, supra note 7 (“So that's a very active and ongoing discussion, and it's also a very detailed discussion in terms of where monitors would go and how it would work. There are sensitivities in this area. There are some spoilers on the ground that neither side can control. So I would just say, given we have this very detailed kind of de-confliction arrangement or detailed line of contact, we're now looking at kind of where the monitors would go. So that discussion is very much ongoing, and I'm hopeful over the next week or so we can get somewhere.”); Background Briefing, supra note 6 (“[T]here's a lot of discussions ahead of us still, including about some very important elements, including how to monitor the ceasefire, the rules that would govern the southwest de-escalation area, all of these—the presence of monitors. All of this will be the subject of ongoing talks.”).

11 U.S. Says Russia Willing to Deploy Monitors for Syria Ceasefire, Reuters (July 13, 2017), at https://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-usa/u-s-says-russia-willing-to-deploy-monitors-for-syria-ceasefire-idUSKBN19Y27Q (“‘The Russians have made clear they're very serious about this and willing to put some of their people on the ground to help monitor from the regime side,’ McGurk told reporters. ‘They do not want the regime violating the ceasefire.’”).

12 The Embassy of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan Press Release, Amman Centre for South Syria Ceasefire Control Embarks on Mission (Aug. 23, 2017), at http://jordanembassyus.org/news/amman-centre-south-syria-ceasefire-control-embarks-mission.

13 Russian Foreign Ministry Press Release, Briefing by Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Maria Zakharova, Moscow (July 14, 2017), at http://www.mid.ru/en/press_service/spokesman/briefings/-/asset_publisher/D2wHaWMCU6Od/content/id/2815668.

14 U.S. Dep't of State Press Release, Department Press Briefing (Aug. 10, 2017), at https://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/dpb/2017/08/273325.htm.

15 Lavrov: Saudi Arabia Committed to Solve Syria Crisis, Al Jazeera (Sept. 11, 2017), at http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/09/lavrov-saudi-arabia-committed-solve-syria-crisis-170911145838638.html.