Diplomats aim for temporary Syria truce in a week

MUNICH -- Diplomats trying to secure a ceasefire for the civil war in Syria fell short early Friday in organizing an immediate truce but agreed to try to work out details and implement a temporary "cessation of hostilities" in the coming week.

Although foreign ministers from the International Syria Support Group managed to seal an agreement to "accelerate and expand" deliveries of humanitarian aid to besieged Syrian communities beginning this week, their failure to agree on a ceasefire leaves the most critical step to resuming peace talks unresolved. It was not clear from their comments afterward whether deep differences regarding the truce and which groups would be eligible for it could be overcome.

Speaking for the group, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry hailed the results as a significant accomplishment but noted a cessation-of-hostilities agreement, if it can be achieved, would only be a "pause" in fighting, and more work would need to be done to turn it into a full-fledged ceasefire.

He also allowed the agreements made were "commitments on paper" only.

"The real test is whether or not all the parties honor those commitments and implement them," he told reporters after the nearly six-hour meeting at a Munich hotel, which ran into the early hours of today.

While humanitarian access is critical to relieving the suffering of millions of Syrians in the short term, a durable and lasting ceasefire will be required if stalled negotiations between Syrian President Bashar Assad's government and the opposition are to resume on or before the U.N.-set target date of Feb. 25. The talks broke down last month before they really started, due largely to gains by Assad's military with the heavy backing of Russian airstrikes.

Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who had been pressing for a ceasefire to begin March 1, said the U.S. and Russia would co-chair both the working group on humanitarian aid as well as a task force that will try to deal with the "modalities" of the temporary truce and include members of the military along with representatives from countries that are supporting various armed groups in Syria.

Russia had proposed the March 1 ceasefire, but the U.S. and others saw that as a ploy to give Moscow and the Syrian army three more weeks to try to crush Western- and Arab-backed rebels. The U.S. countered with demands for an immediate stop to the fighting. Both countries appeared to have made concessions on that front.

Despite the concession on potential timing of the truce and the agreement to set up the task force, the U.S., Russia and others remain far apart on which groups should be eligible for it.

The new task force will take up a job that was supposed to have been settled months ago. At the moment, only two groups -- the Islamic State and the al-Qaida-affiliated al-Nusra Front -- are ineligible.