US and Russia agree to ceasefire in Syria

US Secretary of State Tillerson confirmed the agreement. The United States and Russia unexpectedly agreed to a ceasefire in southwestern Syria. The ceasefire, which also includes Jordan, is set to go into effect on Sunday, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Friday in Hamburg.

In Hamburg, President Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin had their first face-to-face meeting at the G-20 summit. The United States is the first to engage in a formal agreement for a long time to reduce violence in war-torn Syria.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lorov has confirmed the ceasefire to be applied in the provinces of Daraa and Quneitra. “The United States has committed itself to ensuring that all groups that exist in the region adhere to the ceasefire,” he said.

“This is our first success,” Tillerson said. He hoped that this could be continued in other regions of Syria. From the point of view of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, the US position has not changed. “We see no place for the Assad family in the political future of Syria,” Tillerson said. However, this has not yet been decided, as the transfer of power and the abdication of Assad must be worked out.

Trump and Putin talked about extending the ceasefire in another part of Syria.