‘Plenty of room for skepticism about Syria truce’

There have been mixed reactions to the recent ceasefire agreement in Syria between the United States and Russia. Press TV has spoken to Richard Becker, with the ANSWER Coalition from San Francisco, and Frederick Peterson, a congressional defense policy adviser from Washington to get their take on the tentative plan that aims for truce in the war-torn Arab country.

Frederick Peterson believes that it is too soon to express jubilation over the truce agreement between Moscow and Washington because the document signed between the two countries has remained secret and no one is aware of its basic outlines.

“The bottom line here is that we simply do not know what this agreement is,” Peterson reiterated. “It is beginning with the holiday of Eid and we have hopes, as we do with all peace talks, that it would result in something substantive.”

He also added that the presence of international powers in Syria is another factor that has added to the complexity of the situation there.

“Syria has become the playground of external forces and it is not just a bi-power playground – in other words one side or another. It is a multi-power playground which makes it much more complex.”

Meanwhile, Richard Becker said that in his view the prospect of any ceasefire in Syria is “highly doubtful” because, according to him, foreign interventions still exist and at the same time, the contending forces surrounding Syria are still dedicated to regime change.

“The other fact is that inside of the United States foreign policy establishment, just a couple of months ago, we had 51 mid-ranking State Department officials criticizing the Obama government for not taking more strenuous action, not intervening more strongly. Those are forces that are aligned with Hillary Clinton who – nothing is assured – but is likely to become the next president and who has been for escalating the war against the Syrian government,” Becker argued.