Egypt Ex-Minister: Syria Warring Sides Should Focus on Political Transition

MOSCOW (Sputnik), Daria Chernyshova — This week, Russia and the United States announced an agreement on the cessation of hostilities between the Syrian government and armed opposition factions in the country. The agreement will come into force on February 27.

Military action, including airstrikes conducted by Syria, Russia and the US-led coalition will continue against Daesh, al-Nusra Front, as well as other UN-designated terrorist groups.

"Once that we have a sustained ceasefire… and we allow access of humanitarian assistance [to the areas affected by the conflict], I hope the focus would be on the political transition," Nabil Fahmy said.

The UN Security Council Resolution 2254, passed in December, reaffirms the goals of previous agreements to end the bombardment of civilians in Syria, bring the entire spectrum of political groups in the crisis-torn country to the negotiating table and promote a lasting political resolution of the crisis.

The United States and Russia should be able to deal with potential violations of ceasefire regime in Syria, Nabil Fahmy said.

"Monitoring the ceasefire will be very complicated, because of the relationship between different groups in Syria. Nevertheless, if entered in good faith, the US and Russia should be able to hold continuing consultations with their allies to deal with any potential violations of the ceasefire," Fahmy said.

He said that the implementation of the ceasefire deal will not be easy, there would be violations, but reaching the goal of total cessation of hostilities is possible eventually.

"I don't think we can move towards conflict management in the area as complicated as Syria and a conjunction neighborhood such as Iraq, Jordan without international cooperation. It is a good deal, it is based on the Vienna document, which is based on first regional Geneva documents," he said.