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The U.S. and Russia struck a deal for a cease-fire in southwest Syria, according to reports, marking a major breakthrough in the six-year civil war as President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin held their first face-to-face meeting. Details were sketchy but the cease-fire was scheduled to take effect Sunday at noon Damascus time, The Associated Press reported, citing U.S. officials. The deal reflects a new level of involvement by the U.S. in Syria’s civil war. Mr. Trump had previously stepped up U.S. actions with airstrikes against chemical weapon stashes of the Bashar al-Assad regime in Syria. Jordan and Israel...

BREAKING: AP learns that US, Russia prepared to announce cease-fire in southwest Syria starting Sunday.

The UN Security Council has unanimously voted to back a ceasefire deal in Syria led by Turkey and Russia, as well as plans for fresh peace talks next month. The resolution, drafted by Russia, also calls for rapid access for humanitarian aid to be delivered across the country. The ceasefire, which began just over a day ago, has mostly held.

President Obama was left out of peace talks in Syria in December that came up with a ceasefire agreement. The ceasefire was brokered between Russia, Turkey and Iran, but the Russian envoy told reporters today he does expect the US to be involved in future peace talks.

The latest on the conflict in Syria, and the Russia and Turkey brokered cease-fire agreement between Syria's government and opposition rebels. All times local. 10 p.m. U.S. deputy ambassador Michele Sison says the Obama administration strongly supports a nationwide cease-fire in Syria accompanied by "unfettered humanitarian access" but regrets that details of the agreement brokered by Russia and Turkey have not yet been made public. Sison told the U.N. Security Council after it unanimously adopted a resolution Saturday backing Russian and Turkish efforts to end the fighting in Syria and jump-start peace negotiations that "the goals are laudable and we...

How Americans Are Being Lied To: Virginia State Senator Richard Black Debunks MSM Lie about Battle for Aleppo (Republican former USMC) Republican Senator Black (ex-USMC officer) bravely provides complete disclosure that Obama is conducting an unlawful war and intentionally continues to support Al-Queda and related ISIS rebel terrorists that threaten the middle east, Europe and the US. https://southfront.org/how-americans-are-being-lied-to-virginia-state-senator-richard-black-debunks-msm-lie-about-battle-for-aleppo/ Video Interview: Virginia State Senator Richard Black speaks about the reality on the ground in Syria’s Aleppo and debunks the lies in the main stream media. https://youtu.be/VfyDgDTu0Go

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Russia is sending more warplanes to Syria to ramp up its campaign of air strikes, a Russian newspaper reported on Friday, as Moscow defied global censure over an escalation that Western countries say has torpedoed diplomacy. U.S. President Barack Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel described the Russian and Syrian bombing of the city of Aleppo as "barbarous", the White House said after the two leaders spoke by telephone. Fighting intensified a week into a new Russian-backed government offensive to capture all of Syria's largest city and crush the last remaining urban stronghold of the rebellion. Moscow and its ally,...

Secretary of State John Kerry threatened on Wednesday to end all cooperation between the United States and Russia to stop Syria's civil war, unless Russian and Syrian government attacks on Aleppo end. More than 250 people are believed to have been killed in the besieged city in the last week. Kerry's warning came in a telephone call Wednesday to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, the State Department said, describing the latest U.S. ultimatum in Syria's 5½-year conflict. Many have gone unfulfilled, including President Barack Obama's declaration that the U.S. would take military action if Syrian President Bashar Assad crossed the...

At least 23 civilians were killed in renewed government airstrikes on the contested city of Aleppo, Syrian activists said Sunday, as the United Nations Security Council convened an emergency meeting on the spiraling violence in Syria. At the start of that meeting the U.N.'s top envoy to Syria accused the government of unleashing "unprecedented military violence" against civilians in Aleppo. Staffan de Mistura said Syria's declaration of a military offensive to retake rebel-held eastern Aleppo has led to one of the worst weeks of the 5 1/2-year war with dozens of airstrikes against residential areas and buildings causing scores of...

The United States on Sunday called Russia's action in Syria "barbarism" not counter-terrorism while Moscow's U.N. envoy said ending the war "is almost an impossible task now" as Syrian government forces, backed by Moscow, bombed the city of Aleppo. The United Nations Security Council met on Sunday at the request of the United States, Britain and France to discuss the escalation of fighting in Aleppo following the announcement on Thursday of an offensive by the Syrian army to retake the city. "What Russia is sponsoring and doing is not counter-terrorism, it is barbarism," U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Samantha...

ussia's ambassador to the United Nations, Vitaly Churkin, told the Security Council on Sunday that peace in Syria was "almost an impossible task now," according to Reuters. Russia and the United States, who back opposing sides in the Syrian civil war, have been trying to salvage a ceasefire deal that effectively collapsed ...

Samantha Power, the United States ambassador to the United Nations, told the UN Security Council on Sunday that Russia's action in Syria was barbarism, not counter-terrorism, according to Reuters. The ambassadors of Britain and France said war crimes have been committed there. .....

The United States was relegated to the sidelines of the Syrian war on Friday as an all-out assault by Syrian government and Russian forces on opposition-held Aleppo threatened to unleash a new refugee wave and drive U.S.-backed rebels into the ranks of al Qaeda’s Syrian branch, U.S. officials and experts said. Moscow’s direct participation in the offensive left fading hope for U.S.-Russian peace efforts, raising the likelihood that U.S. President Barack Obama’s successor will inherit a worsening conflict. Entering its sixth year, the Syrian civil war already has left some 250,000 people dead, uprooted more than 11 million and provided...

Syrian government and rebel forces battled for control of high ground on the Aleppo outskirts on Saturday as warplanes bombed the city's opposition-held east relentlessly in a Russian-backed offensive that has left Washington's Syria policy in tatters. In their first major ground advance of the offensive, the army and its militia allies seized control of the Handarat Palestinian refugee camp, a few kilometres north of Aleppo, only for rebels to counterattack a few hours later. "The fighters are waging ferocious battles because it is a battle of existence," a senior rebel official told Reuters. Rebels said they had recovered some...

<p>The United States and Russia abandoned diplomatic niceties Wednesday in a fractious public debate over Syria, blaming each other for spoiling the country’s cease-fire and offering only temporary patches to stem the bloodshed. Secretary of State John Kerry called for all warplanes to halt flights over aid routes, while Russia’s chief diplomat spoke of a possible three-day pause in fighting.</p>

The initial seven days of the nationwide ceasefire in Syria have run their course, the Syrian Army has declared. It did not add whether the truce will be reinstated in the near future. The Syrian Army's statement blames “terrorist groups” for jeopardizing the cessation of hostilities, Reuters reports. "It was assumed that the ceasefire will present a real chance to end the bloodshed, but terrorist groups did not adhere to any of the points of the agreement on a ceasefire, the number of violations on their part has exceeded 300," reads the statement published by SANA news. DETAILS TO FOLLOW

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syria's army general command said warplanes from the U.S.-led coalition bombed a Syrian army position at Jebel Tharda near Deir al-Zor airport on Saturday, paving the way for Islamic State fighters to overun it. The air strike killed Syrian soldiers and was "conclusive evidence" that the U.S. and its allies support the jihadist group, the Syrian army said in a statement, noting that the strike was "dangerous and blatant aggression". The U.S.-led coalition has been conducting air strikes against Islamic State since September 2014. In December Damascus accused the coalition of striking an army camp near Deir...

Russia's Defense Ministry said Thursday the United States was not fulfilling its obligations under the Syrian ceasefire agreement, as Moscow and Washington pointed fingers at each other for violating what had appeared to be a peaceful lull in fighting. In a statement, the Russian ministry said that US-led "moderate opposition forces" had increased the "number of attacks on residential neighborhoods," claiming that at the end of the third day of the current cessation "only the Syrian army observes silence mode."The current ceasefire was called so that desperately needed humanitarian aid could be delivered.

U.S. says meeting for Syria cease-fire delayed, not canceled, as Russia claims By Hugh Naylor and Michael Birnbaum February 19 at 11:07 AM BEIRUT — Russia and the United States appeared at odds Friday about whether a meeting of the international coordinating group charged with implementing a cease-fire in Syria had been canceled, with Russia's Foreign Ministry claiming it was, and the U.S. and U.N. officials saying it was merely delayed. The back-and-forth Friday adds to delays in reducing hostilities and raises even more questions about the workability of the truce. The coordinating group was due to convene in Geneva...