Obama, Putin talk on Syria truce set for Feb. 27: White House

US President Barack Obama and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin have discussed the Syrian truce, set to begin on the 27th of February, the White House says.

“President Obama did have an opportunity to telephone President Putin today. That call was placed at President Putin's requests and it was a call to discuss the ongoing conversations about arriving at an understanding around a cessation of hostilities in Syria,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters on Monday.

The comments were made after diplomatic sources said that a draft deal had been reached between Russia and the United States, calling for a ceasefire to start in Syria in late February.

On Sunday, US Secretary of State John Kerry said he and his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, had reached a provisional agreement on the "cessation of hostilities" in Syria, noting the sides were closer to a ceasefire than ever before.

Russia will speak to the Syrian government and Iran, and the US will speak to the Syrian opposition and its partners, Kerry said.

The truce would exclude two major militant groups in Syria, namely Daesh and Nusra Front.

“As announced in Munich a little over a week ago, this cessation of hostilities will apply to all parties in Syria except for ISIL (Daesh), except for al-Nusra and other terrorist groups that have been so designated by the UN Security Council,” Earnest said.

“In the coming days, the United States and our (International Syria Support Group) ISSG partners on the ceasefire task force will undertake a series of steps to implement the cessation of hostilities by February 27th,” he added.

He noted that the implementation of the ceasefire will not be easy, but it provides an opportunity which should be grasped.

“This is going to be difficult to implement. We know that there are a lot of obstacles and there are sure to be some setbacks after all four years we've been trying to reach a diplomatic resolution to the many problems that plague that nation that has broken apart. But this is a moment of opportunity, and it is the result of tenacious diplomacy on the part of Secretary (John) Kerry. We are going to continue to try to capitalize on this moment of opportunity, and we’re hopeful that the other signatories to the agreement will do the same thing,” Earnest stated.

The ISSG agreement called on the Syrian government and the opposition group to resume the UN-led peace talks that collapsed on February 3 after the so-called opposition group, known as the High Negotiations Committee, refused to attend the talks.

The talks were scheduled to begin on February 25, but UN envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura said the resumption of talks is “unrealistic.”

On Saturday, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said that he was ready for a ceasefire to end the five-year-long bloodshed in the country, provided that foreign-backed terrorists did not use a let-up in fighting to their advantage and that countries backing them halted their support.

Syria has been gripped by a foreign-backed militancy since March 2011. According to a new report by the Syrian Center for Policy Research, the conflict has claimed the lives of over 470,000 people.

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