According to the AP, Russia wants a cease-fire to begin in Syria on March 1; however, the United States demands a cease fire immediately, claiming Russia is just posturing so it can have three more weeks to continue their airstrikes against rebel Syrian groups.
Talks of a cease-fire in Syria come as more than a dozen countries, including Russia and the US, are to resume on February 25 in Munich.
The group is meeting to try to find a solution to the five-year conflict in the embattled country that has killed more than 25 million people and displaced millions more, creating a refugee crisis not seen since World War II.
The conflict also brought about the rise of Daesh and their claiming of land in Syria and its neighbor Iraq as their new caliphate territory, AP reported.
Russia claims it is supporting a counterterrorism campaign in support of Syrian President Bashar Assad’s government; however, this claim has received criticism from the West which says that groups opposed to Assad, along with Daesh, are also being targeted.
The US insists on an immediate cease-fire because opposition forces in the north and south of Syria could suffer irreparable losses before the cease-fire comes into effect, an anonymous source reported to AP.
They say an immediate cease-fire along with humanitarian relief is the key to getting all sides back to the negotiating table and will pave the way for Obama's plan to set up a transition government that would allow those involved in the conflict to focus on destroying Daesh and the Nusra Front.
Opposition groups walked out of last month's Geneva peace talks after Russia continued its airstrikes near Aleppo that ended up sending civilians by the tens of thousands to the Turkish border, AP reported.
