'Syria truce revival tied to US will to rein proxy forces'

Unless the United States accepts responsibility for its own proxy forces in Syria, there would be no chance of reviving the ceasefire deal in the country, a political analyst has told Press TV.

"The US held Russia responsible for making Damascus to hold up to the ceasefire, but the US never accepted any responsibility for its own proxy forces," said Jim W. Dean, the managing editor of Veterans Today from Atlanta.  

"So, we have this unbelievable situation where at least Russia finally stood up and said 'unless you can guarantee ahead of time that your groups are going to sign up, there's really no way we can start another ceasefire. Because we know you're just going to use it to reinforce your own forces.'"

On Saturday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov reiterated that a revival of the collapsed ceasefire in Syria was possible only if all sides involved in the conflict would contribute to the goal.

“One can only speak about the ceasefire revival only on the collective basis,” Lavrov said in an interview with a Russian TV news show.

Elsewhere, during a speech at a crisis meeting on Syria at the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) on Wednesday, Lavrov pointed out that militant groups had taken advantage of previous ceasefires in Syria to reinforce themselves and called for a procedure to make sure that all militant groups respected the truce.

He further urged Washington to separate the so-called opposition forces from terrorists.

"If we can agree on this kind of comprehensive approach, an integrated multi-faced approach, the chances of a cessation of hostilities surviving and being successful will be better," he added.

In another part of the interview, Jim Dean noted that Washington is not going to accept any stipulation that curbs its own proxy forces like Jabhat al-Nusra (recently rebranded as Jabhat Fateh al-Sham) on the battlefield, because, according to him, the only way the US can pressure the Syrian government during the talks is to have military advantage via such forces. 

"That is the US will not even agree to have this new al-Nusra group deemed as a terrorist organization which on one hand it says it is but it won't have it deemed that way. Because that requires legal responsibilities and then also lets Russia free to bomb them."

Dean also added that the US deliberately prevented the public from knowing what it had agreed to in the truce deal, so that if it violated it, nobody would learn and, hence, [Washington] would avoid possible penalties. 

"So, Russia has a lot of support now if they will stand up to the US and say 'we're going to need some outside monitors.' Because the US cannot be trusted with anything that it says it agrees to."

Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:

www.presstv.co.uk