Over the past five and a half years, every international effort to bring violence in Syria to an end has collapsed. The UN has largely been a spectator since what began as civil strife spiralled into a deadly war between the regime and a group of rebel groups supported by outside powers. In this time, half a million people have been killed. The Geneva I and II peace plans did not even take off. Russia and the U.S. had earlier agreed to cease hostilities, but the agreement did not hold. When Moscow and Washington, which support the regime and the rebels, respectively, decided to go ahead with talks despite the initial setback and finally came up with a proper ceasefire agreement earlier this month, hopes were high about bringing at least some temporary relief to Syrians. But within a week of reaching the agreement, the Syrian regime and the rebels are back fighting each other, erasing the advances made through months of negotiations. It is immaterial to ask who has violated the terms of the agreement, given the hostility and the contradictory accounts of who did what. The Syrians blame the U.S. for violating the terms first with airstrikes, killing more than 60 Syrian soldiers in Jebel Tharda on September 17, a few days into the deal. The U.S. says the strike was a mistake. It, in turn, blames Russian jets for attacking a UN aid convoy in Aleppo a few days later, which Moscow denies. Amid the allegations and counter-allegations, the war drags on, creating more havoc, especially in Aleppo that has witnessed heavy regime bombardment and where 2.5 lakh people are believed to be trapped.
There are two key impediments to achieving truce. First, President Bashar al-Assad is now making advances in the battlefield. Recapturing Aleppo, once Syria’s largest city, has always been high on his agenda, and he may be less keen to compromise at a time when he is winning. But the problem is that while trying to recapture the city his forces might commit another massacre, which the world should not let happen. Being Mr. Assad’s greatest supporter, Russia has a moral responsibility to end the siege of Aleppo. But Russia has its own concerns. It wants the rebels to isolate the jihadists among themselves, particularly Jabhat Fateh al-Sham, and has been asking the West to target such groups. Though the U.S. has said it is fighting all jihadist groups in Syria, it is now focussed only on the Islamic State, which is in retreat. The U.S. and Russia need to stay engaged in talks. The word truce may appear to be a cliché in today’s Syria, but an international ceasefire deal between the U.S. and Russia still seems to be the best option to turn around the Syrian situation.