If the truce holds for seven consecutive days and humanitarian aid begins to flow unimpeded to besieged areas, Secretary of State John Kerry said the United States and Russia will then establish a "Joint Implementation Center" to coordinate their intelligence and air attacks against agreed terrorist targets in Syria.
A "bedrock" of the agreement, Kerry said, is Russia's ensuring that Assad's air force will no longer fly combat missions over opposition and civilian areas. "This step is absolutely essential," Kerry said. "By all accounts, Assad air attacks have been the main driver of civilian casualties and migration flows" out of Syria.
The agreement is the culmination of months of up-and-down talks between John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who met here Friday for a marathon negotiating session whose end was delayed by several hours of consultations between Kerry and senior national security officials in Washington.
President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed the proposed deal during talks last weekend in China.
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