Syrian Cease-Fire to Begin Feb. 27, US and Russia Announce

The U.S. and Russia announced that a partial cease-fire in Syria will start Feb. 27, reviving hopes for a solution to a five-year war that's killed 260,000 people and created a refugee crisis straining Europe's borders.

Armed opposition groups that want to take part must confirm by Feb. 26 that they'll abide by the cessation of hostilities agreement, according to a joint U.S.-Russian statement released by the U.S. State Department on Monday. Islamic State, the al- Qaeda-linked Nusra Front and other United Nations-designated terrorist organizations are excluded from the pact, and the military campaign against them, including airstrikes, will continue.

"This is a moment of promise, but the fulfillment of that promise depends on actions," U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said in a statement. "All parties must meet their commitments under this agreement" and "must remain committed over a period of time to make possible a political end to this conflict."

Russian President Vladimir Putin said the accord is capable of "radically" changing the Syrian crisis, and that Russia will work with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's government to ensure compliance, Interfax news agency reported.

The Syrian government accepts the truce and will coordinate with Russia to determine the areas and armed groups that will be included, according to a Foreign Ministry statement carried by state-run SANA news agency. Troops will respond to any violation of the deal, it added.

Scaling Back

Scaling back the violence has become even more urgent amid mounting concerns that Turkey and Saudi Arabia will be drawn more deeply into the conflict. Russia and Iran are backing Assad, while Turkey and Saudi Arabia are part of a U.S.-led coalition supporting rebels, including some radical Islamists. The truce was announced as European Union members struggle with a surge of refugees that has prompted debate over the region's open borders.

There have been three major attempts to end the violence that began in March 2011 and has displaced more than half of the country's 23 million people. The fragility and complexity of the latest cease-fire efforts is underscored by the lack of details such as how to deal with breaches.

While the U.S.-Russian statement calls for a "communications hotline" and possibly a working group to promote and monitor the truce, it sets out no mechanism for responding to violations. It encourages all sides to exercise a "proportionate use of force (i.e., no greater than required to address an immediate threat) if and when responding in self- defense."

'War Crimes'

The cease-fire agreement came as the latest report of the United Nations Commission of Inquiry found "war crimes are rampant" in Syria. The 31-page report documents attacks on health-care institutions, playgrounds, markets and bakeries with no obvious military value. The countries haggling over a peace deal are among those responsible for the violence, it said.

The U.S. says Assad must step down eventually and is backing what it calls moderate opposition groups fighting Islamic State in Syria and Iraq. The Syrian National Coalition, the main political opposition, said in a statement after a meeting in Riyadh on Monday that the success of any truce depends on lifting government sieges of villages and towns, allowing the entry of humanitarian aid, and ending airstrikes and shelling of civilians.

"We are committed to ensuring the success of sincere international efforts to end the bloodshed and push all parties to dialog," the statement cited the coalition's chief negotiator, Riad Hijab, as saying. "At the same time, we are capable of speaking to the regime in the language it understands," it added, in an allusion to violence.

Assad, meanwhile, sent a new signal that he has no intention of loosening his grip on power, issuing a presidential decree setting parliamentary elections for April 13, according to the official Syrian Arab News Agency. His war against an array of rebels has improved dramatically since Russia intervened militarily on his behalf in September.